Google’s rumored upcoming Music service is a very interesting weapon in the war against Apple. At the Google I/O 2010 conference, the company did show off some music features coming to Android phones in the future, but stopped short of confirming a full-fledged online music service. After
several rumors surfaced from unnamed sources, Google Music has apparently been confirmed by through an official channel by Android product manager Gaurav Jain.
According to a
report in the Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist,
uncovered by Knowyourcell.com, Jain confirmed that the music service is coming and that it’s slated for a fall launch along with the recently announced Android 3.0, Gingerbread. It looks like music will be a major component of Android 3.0 and Google is very focused on this aspect.
This would imply that Google is entering the market with full force and that the music streaming features will be a major selling point for Android phones this holiday season. Android 3.0, the next major iteration of Google’s mobile operating system, is intended for
an October launch and will be aimed at high-end devices, coming with some pretty taxing minimum hardware requirements.
Google demoed music streaming on Android phones from a user’s home computer, with technology from the Simplify Media acquisition, but also said people will be able to buy music from the Android Market. Rumors fleshed out the details and said Google is aiming to build a
complete music service, with both streaming and downloading, for everyone, not just Android phone owners.
Jain’s confirmation doesn’t really add that much to the table, he only says that a music service is coming to Android, which Google had already indicated. More details about the service itself, would have been a lot more interesting. With numerous rumors pointing at Apple launching its own on-demand music streaming service and at a possible September launch, the two tech giants are definitely hurdling towards a head-on confrontation in the online music business.
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