Apple and Google Set for a Cloud Music Faceoff

Apple has announced their next big service, a cloud storage platform designed for digital music fans. The service, named iCloud, will allow iPhones, iPods, iPads and standard desktop computers to stream music purchased from iTunes. This means that if an album is purchased on an iPhone, it can be streamed to a computer or to virtually any other device with a few simple clicks. It's the next generation of music storage technology, and with Apple's track record, it's going to be a major product for the company in the next few years.

However, it's worth noting that Google introduced Google Music at their I/O conference this year. Google Music is another cloud-based music service, and iCloud's announcement pits Google and Apple against one another in a new, exciting market.

If there can be only one cloud music service, Apple has a serious advantage. They've been in the music business for a while now--they've got the biggest digital music store on the planet, so they know a thing or two about working with music companies to get rights agreements and digital permissions. Heck, Apple brought The Beatles into the world of digital music. Google has an uphill battle if they want to get the big music companies on their side, or at the very least, they've got to do a lot of work that Apple's already done.

If Google has an advantage, it's that Apple's policies are seen as unnecessarily restrictive. While iTunes is incredibly popular, there's a growing number of music fans who are angry with Apple's restrictive treatment of rival music services on the iPhone and the lack of control that Apple gives iPhone and iPad users. Google's Android community is seen as far less restricted, so power users are likely to give Google's cloud music service a try.

Google's also no Microsoft; they're competent and effective at marketing new technologies, and they understand the importance of a good user interface. Google Music will likely be easy to use and innovative in its features. Apple will likely offer a barebones iCloud service, and if Google Music works with all Android phones as well as the iPhone, we could be headed for a serious battle between two of the largest technology companies in the world.

At this point, we're getting into a lot of wild guesses, so we'll have to wait to see how Apple fleshes out the iCloud and how Google Music responds. In any case, competition is good, and we can't wait to see how Apple and Google work to revolutionize the music industry with their respective cloud services.

Have any thoughts about cloud music platforms? Post below.

Sources:

Grenon, Andre, ed. "Apple's Jobs to take the stage as iCloud hype grows," Reuters.com.