Apple Podcasts+

Apple’s podcasting aspirations are murky. As a giant in distribution with a large, affluent customer base, the company oozes with potential. However, Apple has done little to realize it. Over the past two years Spotify has invested half a billion dollars in ad tech, content creators, production companies, and publishing platforms. Meanwhile, Apple has stood still.

Contours of the company’s plans emerged earlier this month when The Information reported that it was launching a subscription podcast service (the article is behind a paywall but Nick Quah has a good overview). While there’s no firm…