Google’s I/O conference yesterday in which the company unveiled a bunch of new services, including Google TV, also shed light on a new mobile service which the company had recently acquired.
Remember Simplify Media? Pulled from the App Store in March due to “secret plans” which then couldn’t be publicly discussed by the company, the service allowed users of both its web and mobile client interfaces the ability to stream large quantities of music to connected device(s), via a Simplify Media account.
At its I/O conference yesterday, Google showed off a demo of its next-generation Android OS codenamed “Froyo”, in which included a dedicated section of ‘Music’ on Android Market place.
Details are sparse at the moment, but here’s how this basically works. You go to the Market on the web, find a song you like, click the download button, and just like with apps, the song starts to download on your Android devices. So it’s iTunes, over the web, with auto-syncing. No word on who the partners are for this, what the prices will be, etc.
It’s pretty clear at this point that the pulling of Simplify Media from the App Store a few months ago, was to make way for Google’s own client based on the technology.
Rumored to make its reappearance as a Google-branded desktop client sometime this year, the software will allow users to entire non-DRM music library available for streaming directly to their Android-based devices.
Hey look, Google now owns an iTunes competitor. The question is, will it return to iPhone? .. We’re thinking no.
[via @MacRumors]
Leave a Reply