Google’s music service delayed until 2011?

27 August 2010

by Christie Eliezer

The launch of Google’s much speculated new music service may be delayed until the first quarter of 2011.

It was to go live in November or December. But it is still looking for someone to run the service, US-based blog All Things D(igital) reported yesterday.

Also delaying its launch is that Google has not locked in licensing deals with the major record companies. They have so far rejected all its offers. Google has brought in a veteran negotiator to break the stand-off.

Google’s service will offer song downloads and stream music through the Android Market and the internet, linked with its mighty search engine.

It is set up to take on rival Apple’s music offerings.

As a result, Apple’s annual press event in America on September 1 — where it unveils its latest music product — is stirring up more excitement than usual.

Obviously it will unveil its latest iPod, which will feature a new design, front facing camera for FaceTime chatting and Retina Display.

But will Apple use Google’s delay to unveil its long-awaited streaming iTunes service? Consumers can buy music or video from an Apple “locker” which means they won’t have to fret about how much storage they have on their device. If the streaming service is not ready to go, Apple tragics hope for a lightweight web-based iTunes branch which will allow them to share information about their music with buddies on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. Also in the pipeline is a wireless system which allows consumers to move tracks they bought via iPhone to a laptop (and vice versa) without having to physically connect the two.