Should Apple iTunes be afraid of Google?
One wonders how many areas there are in which Apple and Google can possibly compete, but the pair keep finding more. Now there are rumors that Google is going to be launching an iTunes clone late this year.
Apparently Apple and Google are unsatisfied to just be competing in smartphones, operating systems, browsers, advertising, and engineers. Now, Google also wants to compete in the music download arena and is rumored to be working on a service to compete with iTunes. According to an Online Social Media article, the story was first broken by Reuters and is now on the report and confirm circuit. At the same time as Apple is working hard to revitalize its online music source, complete with a music-integrated social networking site (Ping), Google is preparing to enter the downloadable music business.
The service is rumored to make its debut as an integral element in the Android / Chrome operating systems, which will give the music service a leg up in both browsers and on mobile devices. Still, unseating Apple as king of the downloadable music hill is not going to be an easy proposition. Apple is deeply entrenched in the music business with iTunes and its iPod line of MP3 players, record-setting hardware which just received a glittering upgrade from the Cupertino company. Still, Google’s Andy Rubin, VP of engineering, say that he is in talks with record labels, following the path that Steve Jobs pioneered many years ago.
Perhaps Google will have more luck with their music service than they have had so far with social networking (Wave) or smartphones (Nexus One). Both of those enterprises were short-lived and decidedly unsuccessful. Of course, they do have Chrome, which will probably be done soon, and Android, the current darling of the clone-phone set. Maybe they are just finding success to be a hit and miss situation, as most of us do.
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