Well it looks Google is planning on a Christmas timeframe to release their digital music service and everyone is watching including record labels. Even though Google has not signed any record labels yet, it hasn’t stopped the music industry from expressing their excitement at the prospect of an iTunes competitor. According to Reuters’ one label executive was quoted as saying, “Finally here’s an entity with the reach, resources and wherewithal to take on iTunes as a formidable competitor by tying it into search and Android mobile platform. What you’ll have is a very powerful player in the market that’s good for the music business.”
With a statement of this nature coming from a label executive you can bet that all eyes will be on Google come this holiday season. Google also could be a huge competitor should they beat Apple in releasing their music cloud format that has garnered a lot of attention from everyone. While Apple has mentioned implementing a cloud based format there has not been a full disclosure on when it will be available. We expected to hear something this past week but instead Apple announced a social enabled iTunes service instead. Google now has an opportunity to take advantage should they implement a cloud based service. Google did purchase a remote media company, Simplify and immediately closed it down, but nothing more has been mentioned on their plans for Simplify. Either way this holiday season looks like it could be an interesting one should Google make the timeline for the release of their digital music service. So who’s ready to jump ship this holiday season if Google releases their digital music service?