This article was published on December 2, 2011

Spotify says its iPad app is coming soon. So that’s why Spotify Apps are HTML5


Spotify says its iPad app is coming soon. So that’s why Spotify Apps are HTML5

If you’ve been waiting around for a Spotify app to come to the iPad, Pocket-lint thinks that your wait might soon be over. Spotify’s Chris Maples has told the blog that the native iPad app “isn’t too far away”.

What’s probably more interesting is that Maples states that yesterday’s introduction of Spotify apps was just the first in a long line of announcements. But more importantly, it sheds a bit more light on why Spotify is choosing to take the HTML5 route for apps on its newly-released platform.

With HTML5, Spotify apps should play nicely with just about any modern browser, the iPad’s version of Mobile Safari included. TNW’s Matthew Panzarino posited in our backchannel yesterday that Spotify would be making a move to a Web-based service sometime in the future. While that might very well hold true, the immediate answer to the HTML5 question is very likely tied to the forthcoming iPad app.

Maples once again reiterates that Spotify will have a heavy hand over the apps that get approved for use on the platform:

“We operate a really clean, smooth service and we want that to continue. We will, therefore, have high quality thresholds. We’ll be pretty rigorous in making sure that when apps launch, that they will be adding value to our service.”

Whether or not we’ll see apps from the likes of Rolling Stone, Songkick, Last.fm and others inside of Spotify’s own native iPad app is obviously still a bit of a mystery. But with an HTML5 backbone, it certainly does open up doors that might otherwise have been bolted shut.

Ultimately the question remains as to whether or not Spotify’s introduction of a platform will really answer questions that anyone is asking. Haven’t yet had the chance to preview Spotify Apps? You can, and it’s easy. Just go here and start downloading.

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