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By Seb Janacek, 30 June 2005 20:22

COMMENT In typical opportunistic style, Steve Jobs has jumped on the podcasting wave just as it's cresting. Seb Janacek weighs up what this means for Apple's apparent progression into an entertainment company.

Given Steve Wozniak's formative interest in building radio stations, it's a neat symmetry that the company he co-founded this week gave the biggest boost yet to the amateur digital radio phenomenon known as podcasting.

Podcasting refers to subscribing to and downloading audio content, such as radio shows or 'audio blogs', to a MP3 music player.

While its name, a concatenation of 'iPod' and 'broadcasting', suggests its origins are intertwined with the iPod, podcasts can be downloaded to any MP3 device via a Mac or a PC running podcasting software.

However, its association with Apple's brand and products is cemented by the release, earlier this week, of iTunes 4.9. And thanks to the company's decision to integrate a broadcast directory into the software, the podcast phenomenon is about to hit the mainstream.

iTunes 4.9 allows users to subscribe to and download podcasts automatically via a familiar interface and it's all done in the usual neat, user-friendly Apple way.

Interest in podcasting is widespread - with amateur DJs, radio stations, newspapers, politicians, corporates and recently schools joining the party.

It's catching hold of the coat-tails of the blogging phenomenon and while podcasting won't proliferate to the same extent as blogging, it's been born out of the same publishing spirit and the proliferation of easy to use, and often free, software.

The decision to integrate podcasting into iTunes has clearly been a slightly painful one for Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

Jobs had previously been dismissive of the grassroots podcasting craze. He scornfully described it in late May as "Wayne's World for radio" - an allusion to the spoof amateur TV show made popular by Mike Myers' goofy hero.

By the time the Worldwide Developers Conference kicked off in early June, podcasting was very much on the Apple agenda. In his keynote - via a neat bit of reality distortion - Jobs had applied the "Wayne's World" moniker to the craze as tongue-in-cheek praise.

It's somewhat ironic that while Jobs is more than happy to put slick creative tools like iMovie and Garageband in the hands of the great unwashed, he seems slightly less enthused about allowing the company's flagship online service to distribute media created by amateur content producers.

The podcasting segment of his keynote speech made numerous references to the increasing number of "pro" contributors alongside the "amateur" podcasts, making it clear the Apple boss still isn't wholly won over by the current content landscape his corporate sensibilities are becoming more allayed.

However, what has clearly won over Jobs is the statistics and projections on podcasting. According to research from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, one third of US iPod users have already downloaded and played podcasts.

In addition, a separate report from the Diffusion Group predicts that by 2010, around 60 million Americans will be podcasting.

Given these figures it's no surprise that Jobs told conference delegates he wanted the "iPod and the iTunes digital-music community" to be at the forefront of the podcasting phenomenon and "bringing the innovation into the marketplace".

In many ways it was a complete no-brainer for Apple to jump aboard the podcasting bandwagon.

For starters, the content costs next to nothing for the company to aggregate and distribute. All the content is free, has generated publicity through its own relentless momentum and this time there's no need for painstaking negotiations with fat-cat record executives with dollar signs spinning in front of their eyes.

What's more, the technical implementation is as straightforward as it gets thanks to the openness and flexibility of XML and RSS - the technologies that generate the podcast directories and allow podcast creators to add their content to iTunes Music Store. Even if the company will end up hosting the podcast files themselves, the costs are minimal.

It's true there's currently no way for Apple to charge for the content but at the same time the company doesn't generate any significant revenue directly from music sales on iTunes either.

The success of its music operation has come from the resultant sales of iPods - roughly 16 million of them. And while there's no paid-for podcasting content yet, it will undoubtedly come.

In addition, an increasing number of video podcasts are becoming available, building the case for exploring new directions for the iPod - specifically the long-rumoured video device.

Apple recently introduced video to iTunes. In addition, this week it integrated the iPod and iPod photo ranges.

As demand grows for the chance to view video content on a tiny two-inch screen and a growing number of video podcasts appear, it could ease the decision to release a video iPod as a complementary range - with a view to integrating it into the iPod at a later date, as happened with the Photo device.

The company will easily assume the mantle of market leader for podcast distribution, allowing it to get in on the ground floor of what could be the next big thing in content delivery online - if the analysts and statisticians are to be believed.

While excellent podcasting software (such as iPodderX) existed prior to iTunes 4.9, it's likely that iTunes will soon command an overwhelming share of the podcast audience.

The iPod currently commands around 76 per cent of the digital music player market (according to Apple) and its integration with iTunes is a key part of its success as a solution for managing digital music collections.

So it seems that (unfortunately) iTunes will do for third-party podcasting tools such as iPodderX and others what Dashboard did for Konfabulator - the pre-Tiger widget software.

However, the clearest win for Apple is with the name, in that the phenomenon itself shares a recognisable string of three letters from the company's leading and most visible brand.

By integrating podcasting into iTunes, Apple will hope to marry the two in the public consciousness, and it's unlikely it will need to work too hard to maintain that link as podcasting is assimilated into the larger iPod and iTunes brand.

Given Apple's continued dominance of the online music market in the short to mid-term, the company will be in a prime position to ride the growing podcasting wave and watch the iPod sales tick over as the company continues its evolution as a media company.

The future for Apple's music strategy looks brighter all the time.