Pandora And Pioneer Tag Team For In-Car Radio – Expensive As All Get Out

Today at CES Pandora and Pioneer revealed a partnership build new system that will support listening to Pandora inside of cars.

That this took so long to exist is a travesty. Pandora is of course the wildly popular internet radio startup, with tens of millions of users. Unlike normal radio, Pandora plays music that you will enjoy based on your input. I could ask Pandora to play me music, say, by Kamelot, and Pandora would discover and play similar artists and songs all day.

The device itself, according to PaidContent will: ” detect users’ Pandora settings on their Apple iPhones.” Snazzy, to be sure.

There is one major stumbling block to the device: a $1200 price tag, which will price the device right out of reach for many consumers. The device is built to handle both navigation  and entertainment, which explains the high sticker.

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The good news is that most in-car radios now accept incoming auxiliary jacks, most people can link Pandora via an app on their mobile phones into their car for around $4.That of course, is less than $1200 for the bean counters in the audience.

Great move by Pandora. By partnering with such a popular and respected company they will sell devices, and they will expand away from being a strictly computer driven company. If Pandora can convince Pioneer to built a lower cost device, they could have a hit on their hands.

The Wall Street Journal reports that no cash was exchanged between Pioneer and Pandora. This is unsurprising as Pandora has long been noted for being short of money. Will you be picking one up?