Apple Plots Personalized Radio, iPhone 5

Apple will soon offer customizable streaming radio stations, according to numerous reports including the Wall Street Journal. The service would likely run through iTunes, which already offers streaming radio. It would compete with similar offerings from established companies Pandora, Slacker, Spotify and iHeartRadio.

Apple aficionados know that the tech giant earns most of its profits from hardware sales of iPods, iPhones and iPads, instead of music downloads. This will likely give Apple an advantage over radio rivals because it isn’t vying for hard-to-grasp profits from streaming radio.

In related news, Apple is expected to debut the iPhone 5 tomorrow (9/23). According to AdAge, iPhone sales account for about 70% of the company’s profits. The trade publication reports, “The phone, to be introduced tomorrow by CEO Tim Cook, will probably have a new hardware design, including a bigger screen and thinner body, as well as new mapping software and compatibility with speedier next-generation data networks.”

Apple could sell as many as 10 million iPhones by the end of September alone, according to Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray Cos.