The third rumor on Friday from Bloomberg involves Apple working on a podcast subscription service to compete with Spotify. Following its naming convention for other services it’s possible this service would be called Podcasts+.
(Original report from The Information, which is paywalled).
Podcast+ Rumor
In 2020 a report surfaced that said Apple was looking for an executive to lead a push into Apple original podcasts. The company wanted podcasts that were related to existing content on other services like Apple TV+ or that could be turned into their own TV shows or movies.
A podcast subscription service would involve third-party podcast creators moving to the service. Like other services that use third-party content like Apple Music and News+, it’s possible that Podcasts+ would be another US$9.99/mo subscription. If Apple works directly with creators the service could be US$4.99/mo like Apple Arcade and Apple TV+. And Apple would certainly add Podcast+ to its Apple One bundle of services.