CarPlay has a shortlist of app partners so far, including Spotify and iHeartRadio. One major music service that’s been missing is Pandora.
The iTunes Radio rival has been quiet about its CarPlay plans, until now.
Not only will Pandora’s iOS app support CarPlay, but it will also work on the Apple Watch. The streaming service’s commitment to Apple as a platform is interesting given how iTunes Radio is clearly a competitor.
In an interview with Fox Business, Pandora CFO Mike Herring talked a little about his company’s “frenemy” relationship with Apple:
Pandora, which owes part of its success to the popularity of its iPhone app, has a “frenemy kind of relationship going on” with Apple, according to Herring. “We were part of what made it fun to have an iPhone,” Herring added. While the two companies are “close partners,” it is a “very interesting relationship.”
Since supporting CarPlay is something Apple has to explicitly work with other companies on, Herring’s comments make it seem like Pandora is already getting its app ready for the automobile dashboard interface. Apple starting asking for Apple Watch app submissions today.
