Google I/O week is officially underway. We mused what might be shown yesterday evening, but it would seem Google can’t even keep their announcements under wraps until the event is open to attendees.
In a blog post yesterday, Google’s YouTube head honcho Salar Kamangar announced that the ubiquitous streaming site has inked a deal with some major movie studios to offer movie streaming for US YouTube customers, presumably with more regions rolling out as soon as the firm can sort out the licensing.
Meanwhile, rumours abound that the first cat out of the bag when the I/O conference doors open will be Google Music, albeit sans agreement from music labels. According to MediaMemo, who reported that Google’s negotiations with the labels had faltered earlier this year, the search giant is to go ahead with its music locker service without a retail arm – making it little more than glorified online storage. Amazon’s Cloud Player, although also lacking approval from music labels, at least has the retailer’s MP3 purchasing service to bolster their proposition.
There will be some unique functionality to set Google Music apart – for example rumour has it Google will offer around ten times the storage Amazon’s Cloud Player does (up to 20,000 songs), and the service – which will be able to stream music to Android handsets and tablets – will boast a Genius-style playlist generator.
The service will be launched in semi-public beta at I/O this morning, with a free invite for all attendees, as well as people using the Verizon Xoom.
While this is a step in the right direction for Android’s media offering (both the music locker and movie streaming), the lack of a music store will be another check against Android, which has long been a media ugly duckling next to Apple’s ecosystem. One thing is for sure – Apple will be firmly in bed with the major labels whenever it chooses to launch their cloud music service.
You can tune in at I/O Live to see the announcements as they happen, starting in around nine hours time.
