Google vs Apple
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Internet giant Google is considering an extensive alliance with Napster, which could include an outright acquisition, as it plots its move into the digital music world, The Post has learned. According to sources within the music industry, Google has been pushing to align with Napster — rather than build its own online music store — a sign that Google sees subscription services, rather than the individual download model that Apple's iTunes is built on, as the future of digital music. It has long been rumored that Google is considering expanding... ................... Now this is some interesting news because for a while everything Google touched turned to gold. Can they pull the biggest upset in the technology world or will Apple knock Google out of the park? My bets are with Apple, iTunes is an established brand and it doesn't seem like people are interested in renting music. If that trend changes I think Apple has a subscription plan in the wings right now and could drop it at any time. Even though the ipod only works with the iTunes music store, Apple has about 80% of the mp3 player market. I doubt people will dump the ipod and get a subpar mp3 player just to switch to Google. Rumors are that the shuffle will see its end of life this year and will be replaced with a 1 gig nano. I never liked the shuffle and think this is a good move. A bigger screen ipod for video would also be nice, maybe u turn it sideways would help.
EXCLUSIVE
Posted by mardenhill 2/01/2006 08:49:00 AM
