Pandora Out Soon for Android

While many out there have thought this day would never come, Android users rejoice! The free, legal, extremely popular, and all around great website Pandora is finally going to be released for the Google Android. This news comes after a blog entry posted by CTO of Pandora, Tom Conrad, giving several reasonable, if not very compelling, excuses for the absence of the Pandora Android application thus far.

Pandora for Android is under development now. We’re a startup and sometimes the world has a way of stepping in and changing priorities, but assuming that doesn’t happen, our plan is for Android to be the next big mobile platform launch for us.

The reality is that we started with the iPhone because it was an extremely compelling music phone with an extremely compelling developer SDK. We followed on with Windows Mobile and BlackBerry because they have huge volume. Then, perhaps most controversially, I chose to develop for the Palm Pre next.

That decision hinged on a unique opportunity Palm presented to us: to be one of just 5-10 developers that worked together with Palm on the initial launch of the Pre. This opportunity was unique in that it essentially guaranteed that every Pre customer would easily find Pandora in the download store. It also seemed likely that we’d have an opportunity to play a part in their launch advertising and press. All of this has come true. Pandora for the Pre turned out really well, nearly every Palm Pre user has installed the application, and Pandora was a meaningful part of their launch story and advertising.

The majority of the online consensus towards Tom’s blog is that of understanding and newfound excitement for their phones. In my personal opinion, I think the hesitation on Pandora’s part was due to the lack of confidence that the Android would make a permanent mark in the smartphone industry, as there is very stiff competition with the likes of Apple, Palm, and Blackberry, who have all had their stake in the industry far longer than the Android.

But no matter the reason, Android users should start setting up Pandora accounts and creating a rich set of playlists for soon the gift of Pandora will grace the screens of Android phones everywhere.