GrindEFX

Wow, this is my third article about Spotify in less than a week. I’m happy it’s getting attention though, I use it everyday and think it could just be the future.

So what has the European streaming service done this time? It has submitted its iPhone app to Apple! It was only last week I was saying how it needed to hurry along with its mobile apps because that’s where its strength and mass appeal is.

The iPhone application will be restricted to Spotify’s premium users, who pay £9.99 a month for an ad-free service and higher quality streaming. So users of the free service will have to upgrade if they want to stream on their iPhone.

Probably the best feature of the Spotify app is the ability to stream over Wi-Fi and 3G. This means even when there is no Internet connection available, you can still stream music offline through 3G (see video demo after the jump).

If approved, the iPhone app will be a big selling point when Spotify launch in the U.S. later this Summer.

CEO Daniel Ek is confident that Apple will approve the app, he told paidContent; “We’ve a great relationship with Apple, think the iPhone is awesome and absolutely expect them to approve the app in the next few weeks. Apple has already approved several other music services such as Last.fm, Deezer and Pandora. We very much look forward to people being able to access their Spotify library wherever they might be and we’ve spent significant time and resources to ensure we’ve stuck to Apple’s developer guidelines point by point.”

However, there are some concerns about the Spotify app being too similar to iTunes. Kevin Anderson at The Guardian noted a few worries that he has.

Apple has approved applications from streaming music providers Pandora and Last.fm and satellite broadcaster Sirius XM, but those services are more like streaming radio, with Pandora and Last.fm allowing people to listen to a specific genre of music or music similar to listeners favourite artist. Spotify allows people to choose specific songs to listen to and create playlists of those songs.

Mark Mulligan, vice president and research director of consumer product strategy at Forrester Research, also points out that Spotify may have some trouble converting its free users to the premium service.

“The problem is that the premium streaming music businesses have a dismal record of failure in the UK,” he said. “Virgin and HMV shuttered their premium music streaming businesses, with HMV relaunching a new offering. Napster has between 50,000 and 60,000 UK subscribers, numbers so modest that it shifted its European headquarters to Germany.”

Well only time will tell. I’m routing for Spotify, but I do share some of Mulligan’s sentiments.

Check out the video below to see a demo of the iPhone app.