Apple is all set to launch iTunes Radio in Canada in the earlier part of 2014, if sources are to be believed.

The iTunes Radio package will be bundled with iOS 7, the latest mobile operating system from the tech giant. Anonymous experts gave their comment to Bloomberg, citing Canada among the next few countries to be privileged enough to gain access to iTunes Radio. The other countries that are expected to avail the opportunity are Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Nordic countries are also expected to experience iTunes Radio in near future. However, when Globe and Mail tried to contact Apple, Trudy Muller, the spokeswoman of the company, refused to comment on the predicted update.

Canada has, however, never been a popular target for streaming radio. Pandora, which is arguably the most popular service for streaming music, has offered an Apple app for 5 years now. However, the service was never made available to Canada. On the other hand, countries like New Zealand, Australia and the United States had restricted service of the same due to royalty rate disputes and licensing hurdles.

Interestingly, most popular players are still not available in the country. These names include biggies like Google Play Music All Access, Spotify and Rhapsody which are geo-locked. On the other hand, Canada still enjoys Songza and Rdio.

Apple plans to move faster than its big time competitor Pandora as it has apparently pocketed international rights agreements with some of the big record companies like Universal Music Group, according to unidentified sources. Pandora, on the contrary, must depend on rights approved by government entities only as the company is yet to secure such deals, unlike Apple.

The senior vice president of Apple, Eddy Cue, is in charge of iTunes. Mr Cue informed the Associated Press in the previous week that Apple would eventually launch iTunes Radio in over a hundred countries which included the United Kingdom. Assumptions sparked off as 9to5Mac.com, the news Web site which focuses primarily on Apple, indicated that the company was looking for programmers in Canada.

Here is the music video of the song which was listened to for the most number of times on iTunes Radio. Ironically, the song is by Drake, the rap sensation from Canada.

Video Courtesy: YouTube/DrakeVEVO