By Susan J. Campbell TMCnet Contributing Editor
As consumers are demanding more and more from their mobile experience, streaming is increasing in demand. For those who offer streaming services, the market is right for selling. Google certainly recognized this value and took advantage of the success of Simplify Media.
According to a Macworld report, Simplify Media’s app was removed from the App Store in March. Some may wonder why as this app perfectly allowed users to stream music and photos from the home computer to the iPhone (News – Alert) or iPod touch. This app worked so perfectly well that it got Google’s attention.
The Internet giant announced at its I/O Conference today that it purchased Simplify Media’s app and included it in a demo of the latest version of Android (News – Alert), Google’s mobile operating system. Google plans to use Simplify Media’s technology to enable streaming on Android in the same way it worked from the App Store.
Very little information was available from Simplify Media back in March. In fact, the company really only said that it was headed in a new direction when it pulled its apps. This new direction certainly has a bright future.
It could easily be argued that a new version of Simplify Media will NOT show up in the App Store, simply because of the animosity between Google (News – Alert) and Apple. The latter certainly likes to hold grudges when Google gets a leg up and something appearing on Android is generally enough to turn Apple (News – Alert) the other way.
But Apple isn’t stupid, either. They understand how the market and consumers work and they won’t sit idly by while Google dominates in streaming. Rumor has it, according to Macworld, Apple is creating its own Web-based music streaming service, based largely on its acquisition of this technology from Lala.
It isn’t the first time Apple solved a problem with a first-party solution and as long as Google continues to succeed in this space, don’t expect Apple to back down.
In other Google news, a report in PC World highlighted that Google TV has been rumored for more than two months without a payoff. Now, it seems the patience may bring reward.Google plans to debut its new service to 3,000 developers at the Google I/O conference.
Last week, the Internet giant announcedthat at least 65,000 mobile phones based on the Android operating system are being shipped every day, and that the Google OS is running on 34 devices in 49 countries around the world.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Marisa Torrieri
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