14 DAY TRIAL // Google is not afraid of trying to conquer new territories, but even the giant company has stayed out of several troublesome markets. One of them is online music, a business that no one has really managed to crack yet and not for lack of trying. Google has made some baby steps towards becoming more involved with music, but it looks like it is finally ready for the big plunge. It offered a sneak peek at a music streaming service during the 2010 Google I/O conference, but details were scarce. Now, unwittingly, it has revealed another piece of the puzzle, the name of the upcoming service which, surprise, surprise, is Google Music.
At least, that’s what a logo hosted at a Google URL would seem to indicate. Follow this link and you’ll find a standard Google logo, which reads “Google music.” Since this is hosted at google.com, it’s certainly the real deal. What’s more, the ‘Google’ part features the new, more colorful logo introduced with the homepage revamp, so the image is relatively recent.
So, what does it all mean? Well, the company is definitely moving with a fresh service centered on music. From what we’ve seen at Google I/O, the Android Marketplace will start selling music, just like iTunes, and the songs will be instantly available on your Android-powered phone, even if the purchase was made on a desktop. Another component, thanks to the Simplify Media acquisition, will be the ability to stream your personal music library from your home computer to your phone. Both features are a certainty.
Everything else is just speculation, but it is likely that the music store will be open, eventually, to all users, not just Android owners. And since this is Google, a cloud company par excellence, a real streaming service, in the veins of Spotify or the recently launched Rdio, could be a real possibility. Of course, it’s not like Google to settle with doing what everyone has already done, so maybe there are a couple of surprises in store as well. With Apple said to be working on a music streaming service to launch this summer, the race is on [via TechCrunch].