Apple Music enters deal with India’s Uber, Ola

Apple Music is providing on–the-go streams to commuters in India, entering a partnership with Ola, the country’s largest version of Uber with a 75% share of the ride-sharing market.

Ola Play, the name of the new service, claims kudos as the world’s first connected car platform for ride sharing, which it built with Qualcomm. It combines car controls, personalised content (it will take into account customer’s preferences and current ride information) and a fully connected interactive experience for the user.

For the equivalent of US$8, users have the choice of accessing Apple Music through the ride’s in-car music system, or download the Ola Play app and control the content via their smartphone.

Despite the rhetoric at the Apple/ Ola launch, it’s no new concept. An early team-up by Uber and Spotify in the west allowed passengers to play Spotify playlists.

But Ola has far more features. It lets customers control music, watch videos, read eBooks, and adjust the car temperature from a tablet within the car. Ola also has touch-screen hardware, online shopping and audio guided tours.

Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru will be the first to get the service. It will be rolled out to 102 cities and to over 50,000 vehicles by March 2017.

Passengers on the ride get access to all Apple Music including curated playlists and the latest music from established and emerging artists.

Ola, in turn, will curate a range of themed playlists reflecting the increasing diverse musical tastes of Indians.

Oliver Schusser, Apple’s Vice President of International Content said, “Music lovers in India are enjoying Apple Music’s hand-picked playlists based on the music they love, hearing new music from artists like Drake and A.R. Rahman first before anyone else, and discovering new artists like Divine and Madboy Mink every day,”

Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO of Ola added, “We are thrilled to announce that our customers can now enjoy the Apple Music experience on the Ola Play platform. Ola Play represents the future of many things, of which, listening and interacting with music is a key element.”

Not only does Aggarwal believe that the partnership will make the commute more pleasant for millions of Indians, but will increase the appeal of ride-sharing to such an extent it will become the first choice of mobility for many.

The question is: will those using other public rides as buses be prepared to pay more for a luxury ride? As it is, India’s car share customers tend to go for the more basic features.