The mobile music space continues to heat up with Spotify rolling out an update for its mobile application that focuses on discovery and personalization.

In addition to discovery-based features, Spotify has also updated its iPhone app with additional search and editing features. The app update is the latest example of how music streaming companies are increasingly focusing on mobile as consumers turn to smartphones and tablets first to listen to content.

?The focus of this iOS update is to bring Discover to iOS users globally,? said Donovan Sung, product manager at Spotify, London.

?Discover further allows Spotify users to find the right music for every moment by leveraging best-in-class technology and social tools with curated content from music experts,? he said.

?We are still gathering initial feedback and metrics, but the preliminary analysis looks positive ? we've already seen that mobile users are more likely to interact with Discover and listen to longer sessions from a wider diversity of artists, which fits in well with mobile as a passive listening use case.?

Personalized listening
The discover button lives on the menu button on the left-hand side of the Spotify iPhone app.

Under the tab, consumers can find recommended artists and playlists that match music that they have previously listened to, and new recommendations are updated every day.

Premium members can stream specific musicians straight from the app. Otherwise, consumers  can save playlists to listen to later.

Recommendations are also sorted by reviews from Pitchfork and Songkick.

According to Spotify, the discover feature will also roll out across the company?s Android app in the future.

Consumers can also edit playlists that they have created straight from the app.

The feature lets consumers add and delete particular songs from their playlists, which previously was not available.

Additionally, the app includes a section called Now Playing, where users can learn more about the current track playing and also view the upcoming track.

Search tabs have also been reorganized with the update. Information on artists, albums and tracks are displayed across the tabs.

?They've positioned themselves around the ability to search and listen to any song available on Spotify,? said Dirk Rients, senior vice president and director of mobile at DDB Chicago, Chicago.

?Pandora and other competitors differentiate themselves around personalization and discovery,? he said.

?Adding the ability to personalize their experience and discover new music will help them compete in the crowded space.?

Mr. Rients is not affiliated with Spotify. He commented based on his expertise on the subject.

Mobile music war
The war is on in the mobile space between a number of companies all vying for consumers' attention on smartphones and tablets.

Pandora and Spotify are constantly tweaking their mobile apps with new features that are aimed at making the listening experience more personal.

For example, Pandora recently updated its iPhone and Android app to integrate with Facebook so that consumers can share their music more seamlessly to their friends and family (see story).

Then there are Google and Apple, both of which have made significant strides in music in the past few months.

Google rolled out a cloud-based music streaming service that is similar to what Spotify offers in May to carve out a name for itself in digital music.

However, Google is likely to come across a few barriers with Google Play Music All Access, such as stealing market share away from Spotify and other music streaming services and lining up all of the music rights from different record labels.

Apple on the other hand recently debuted iTunes Radio in its upcoming iOS7 software update that will compete head-on with Pandora through an advertisement-based model that lets users customize their own radio stations.

Despite the amount of continuous attention and tweaking that music streaming companies are giving to their mobile services, many are still struggling to monetize their efforts.

?People want to discover new music based on what they've listened to or purchased in the past,? Mr. Rients said.

?Companies like Spotify, Pandora, and now iTunes Radio are competing to help users find new music as well as fight for advertising dollars,? he said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York