Over the weekend Pandora updated its Android app for more than 100-million people who have downloaded it, adding the alarm clock feature that iOS users were given a month ago. This completes Pandora’s invasion of the clock-radio category, and the AM/FM stations packaged in those bedside devices. In December, Pandora VP Dominic Paschel talked about “replacing” radio, and as the dominant Internet radio service, Pandora is executing that strategy from all angles.
This alignment of the two app versions (Android and Apple) keeps Pandora’s uniformity intact across both operating systems — a real advantage for people who might have an iPad tablet and an Android phone, and wouldn’t want to hassle with two versions of the Pandora service. We think other services, whose apps sometimes seem to be following independent development paths, should take note of Pandora’s vertical approach.