ENTERTAINMENT/TECHNOLOGY - According to music industry insiders, Google is planning an online music downloading service tied to its search engine, a move which would place "Music" between "Images" and "Video"... and would pit the company against Apple iTunes when it comes to music downloads.
Not everything will be free however. Google has been “stepping up conversations” with the music industry with the creation of a pay-as-you-go service for downloading music fast, but still allowing you to download and sample music from little known singers and musicians... and the ability to view music videos by established musicians.
The service is also tied to Google's upcoming mobile SmartPhone service, which will apparently give Apple's iPhone and BlackBerry a run for their money. Rumours have been circulating for years of Google getting into the cellphone business, offering everything from business phones to another way for people to communicate... Rumours have also speculated the phones will come with GPS-based advertising, so when you walk by a store like H&M you will get a little ad/coupon on your phone offering for you to come on in and get 50% off on jeans.
One can only hope that the phones will be completely WiFi and allow unlimited usage. No more data plans. Data plans are for suckas.
If people are going to be downloading music and videos on these phones (and paying to download the music/videos), it makes sense that they shouldn't be charged TWICE for it. (One for the data plan, and again for the actual downloading of the file.)
In the meantime Google is signing deals with record labels, getting everything ready before they launch their new music service which will be coupled with their SmartPhone release.
In related news Google's Android operating system for SmartPhones is already the fastest growing OS for SmartPhones, surpassing Apple's iPhone, because it can be used on ALL SmartPhones and not just ones made by Apple. In Europe alone the Android operating system jumped 25-fold to 1.8 million users in April. The future is bold, shiny and not limited to the one company that makes them.
See Also: The Future of Phones
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