Photo: Johan Larsson / Flickr

Those of us living in Europe are well acquainted with music streaming service Spotify. With over 1.6 million users in the region, and exceptional popularity in the United Kingdom and other parts of Western Europe, we’ve been sharing playlists for some time now. With the service only now launching in North America, the tech press in that country is going gaga over it. Some very prominent publications think it’s an iTunes killer.

BusinessWeek thinks it’s stealing iTunes’ thunder

In a post titled ‘Spotify rips iTunes’ thunder with new service’ Rich Jaroslovsky points to the allure of ‘wanting something you can’t have’ being at the core of basic human nature, with US users long pining to use music streaming service Spotify being one such example.

He concludes his piece, writing: ‘The digital-music market is undergoing its biggest changes since the opening of the iTunes Store in 2003,’ citing the many alternative music services that have launched in recent years. ‘Even in this crowded field, Spotify stands out for its flexibility, depth and ease of use. It’s one of those cases where the mystique is well-deserved.’ So while Jaroslovsky doesn’t directly say ‘Spotify will kill iTunes’ he hints his belief that it stands a fighting chance.

Harvard going hardline

Maxwell Wessel of the Harvard Business Review takes a much more firm stance, saying, in no uncertain terms, that music streaming service Spotify will topple iTunes or, perhaps, more specifically, licensing streams will be the preferred model of music consumption, as opposed to buying direct.

He writes: ‘iTunes as we know it is over. It is walking, talking, and continuing to pretend it’s alive, but Spotify, Europe’s outrageously successful streaming music product, has just shown us the future.’ His post, incidentally, is titled ‘Why Spotify Will Kill iTunes.’ No pussyfooting around there.

What we think

As much as we like music streaming service Spotify, it’s too soon to say whether it can – or will – topple iTunes. US publications could really just be caught up in the hype. It’s a great accompaniment to today’s smartphones, where we consume most of our music, where iTunes is still associated with the mp3 players of yesteryear. But iTunes is a juggernaut and Apple will respond accordingly. It’s a question of whether Spotify can outrun, and outsmart, the iPhone maker.

What do you make of it all?

Photo: BasBoerman / Flickr

Chances are if you read tech blogs at all today, you’ll have gotten tired of seeing the words ‘Apple’, ‘iOS’, and ‘WWDC 2011’. The thing, though, is Apple’s press conference was jam packed with several potentially industry shaking announcements that individual stories have to be dedicated to each. The theme for this year’s conference was iOS 5, Mac OS X Lion, and Apple’s new iCloud service.

One of the big components of iCloud was what iTunes in the cloud would be and how it would work. Below is what Apple revealed.

What it is not

From the get-go, what must be explained is what iTunes in the Cloud is not. In its current incarnation, the service is not a streaming music service that will compete directly with Spotify or Rdio. Apple has not created a service where you can search for whatever music your heart desires, find it, and play it back instantly. Look elsewhere if streaming music is what you were hoping for.

What iTunes in the Cloud is

iTunes in the cloud is, however, an online locker for all of your music, allowing you to access it from all of your Apple devices at no additional cost. Jobs explains that: ‘For the songs you’ve already bought, we’ve added a purchased button. It shows the history of all the songs you’ve bought on any device. I can download any song to any device by pushing that little cloud button. At no additional charge.’

Apple’s iconic leader added that: ‘This is the first time you’ve seen this in the music industry: multiple downloads to different devices for no charge. So in the future, it will push it to all of my devices.’

US-only for now

The service is currently US-only, and only applies to songs you have purchased from iTunes in the interim. The company said it would let you convert your ripped music for $24.99, using an offering called iTunes Match, but those of you who’ve gotten your mp3s in not-completely-legal-ways or from other retail outlets, you’re out of luck for now.

The iTunes in the cloud component of iCloud was, for me, something of a letdown. It’s a great offering for those who own multiple iOS devices, yet perhaps my hopes of a Spotify-like streaming music service were more prayers than anything else.

Photo: Apple

For close on 18 months, there’s been incessant chatter on Apple dramatically ramping up their cloud computing offerings, with a cloud-based iTunes offering being the highlight of the feature set. The predictions look like they will soon come true, with the tech titan purchasing the domain name iCloud.com for a mountain of cash, as its cloud offering finally approaches market.

Purchase is real, price is unconfirmed

The service could be called Apple iCloud.com after Apple bought the domain name from a Swedish cloud computing firm called Xcerion, sources have confirmed. The news that Apple had purchased the domain was first reported by tech site GigaOm, who said Apple paid an i-watering (sorry) $4.5 million (£2.14m) for said domain name.

What to do with it? What to do with it?

What is currently unknown is what Apple iCloud.com will actually be. The most obvious is Apple plans on tying this service to whatever that 500,000-square-foot data center in North Carolina is intended for.

A cloud iTunes service seems likely, but whether that will be an online locker, a streaming service like Spotify, or a combination of the two is as yet unknown. MobileMe is due for a dramatic upgrade, with a better feature set at a more affordable price tag, too, so Apple iCloud.com could be used for that purpose. Early rumours on the design of iOS 5.0 suggest Apple’s mobile OS will be web-based, much like HP Palm’s webOS, so the domain name could be the catchall host for a collection of services.

WWDC 2011

Perhaps, most tellingly, with this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) taking place in June having a renewed focus on just devs – since the iPhone 5 will not be shown there – all will be revealed soon. I would venture Apple is going to unveil a suite of products and cloud-based offerings for both the iPhone and iPad, so it’s just a case of waiting and seeing.

Photo: dennis / Flickr

Apple earnings season is always a fun time to swoon about Apple’s earnings pull, and how the company makes money like the act is going to go out of fashion. Overall numbers are almost always the focus, as well as a newfound focus on what the iPhone and iPad iOS devices are doing at retail in terms of sales. The one component too few people care about is iTunes, which is doing remarkable numbers, seeing revenues for the quarter jump by more than a quarter!

The numbers

In the earnings report, Apple singled out that iTunes revenue totaled a remarkable $1.4 billion. Ask any physical retailer if they’d be happy with that number, and outside of the colossal companies like Walmart, you’d get universal celebration.

This iTunes revenue number represented 27 per cent year-on-year growth for Apple’s digital download store, which is remarkable.

Apps, apps, apps

While Apple never reports the performance of the individual components of iTunes, clever deduction makes it easy to guess where most of the growth came from – application purchases.

With Netflix dominating films and Amazon dominating book sales, neither iTunes movies nor iBooks are big earners for the company. Digital music sales have also been flat, especially in the US, leaving only the App Store as the big source of growth for the Apple digital download service.

iOS benefits

What this means, by the way, is that people are very comfortable spending money on digital media, and that the dramatic growth of iOS devices is having a positive impact on the growth of the App Store, and, by extension, iTunes, too.

If you happen to own an iOS device – or any contemporary smartphone for that matter – have you found yourself spending more and more on apps, or do you keep it thrifty?

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While the Japan tsunami no longer dominates the news the way it did during its peak, the effects of the disaster are still being felt by the Japanese. And while it’s easy to send out our heartfelt sorrow to the folks of Japan, there is one thing greater than sorrow that will help them rebuild their lives, and that is money. Below is a look at how some tech companies, through the help of their users, helped the Japanese relief effort.

Songs for Japan

Featuring prominently on iTunes stores all across the world, several celebrity musicians got together to put out the Songs for Japan album. All proceeds from the compilation will go to the nation’s Red Cross to help with relief efforts post-tsunami.

Keep farming, planting and supporting

Fans of social games developed by Zynga also pitched in, raising over $1 million for relief efforts in just 36 hours – and this was after the account was set up a mere 24 hours after the disastrous Japan earthquake led to the tsunami. The social gaming giant continues with its aid effort.

Shoot ‘em in the face, and save a life

Valve, the folks behind Steam, and the hugely popular Team Fortress 2 video game, also raised a heap of money for Japan relief efforts. The titan video game developer and its community of Team Fortress 2 players raised an impressive $300,000 for the disaster stricken nation. This was achieved through the sales of limited edition DLC, in the form of in-game headwear. Valve was stunned by the community’s fantastic response.

Much more being done, much more needed

This is just a few of the ways technology companies, and media businesses, are helping to support Japan. There’s undoubtedly much more happening, and there’s still much more needed.

Thankfully savvy companies have found ways to raise money without burdening their communities by making them feel like it is charity. We urge you to look for whatever way – whether it is through purchasing an album, FarmVille seeds or cool headwear for your marksman duties – to support Japan relief efforts.

Photo: abraham.williams / Flickr

Music industry sources have revealed that the long-awaited and much rumoured Google Music service is on its way. People close to the matter say that the search giant has begun testing the service internally, which suggests it could launch quite soon.

iTunes, here we come

Google Music is meant to take on iTunes – and Amazon music, to some extent – and it’s been close to launching for some time now. A Motorola executive had previously said it was scheduled to launch with Android 3.0, but there was no word of it when Android Honeycomb arrived. Other rumours pegged it launching with the Motorola Xoom, over Christmas, and at the recent South by Southwest conference, too, which did not happen either.

Apparently a key ingredient is what has stopped the service from launching – in fact the most key ingredient of them all.

Where’s the music?

The music industry sources who spoke to Cnet revealed that the underlying technology for the Google Music service is ready but – get this – the music part of the component is not.

The search giant wants their service to be an online locker for users’ music, acting as a central cloud streaming service to their computers and mobile devices. In addition, Google also wants to retail music to users. It is effectively Spotify for your personal collections meets iTunes.

The problem is deals are still being ironed out with the notoriously-difficult-to-negotiate-with music publishers and record labels.

This means that the Google Music service will not launch – not in its current form, at least – until they get UMG, Warner Music, EMI, Sony BMG and other labels to agree to license their music along this retail channel. It’s the absurdity of building music technology to work with modern smartphones and for delivery through modern channels that always stumps the forward thinking tech business who have to deal with executives protecting a burning platform.

Photo: brianjmatis / Flickr

When Apple unveiled the new iPad 2, some were disappointed the company spent no time discussing what was coming for the next version of their mobile OS, iOS 5. The rumour mill has begun churning, suggesting that this wasn’t an oversight on Apple’s part, but rather due to the fact that the new OS is actually some time away.

Changed release schedule

Sources say that Apple will break its usual pattern of launching their new mobile OS with their new iPhone, instead launching it in autumn – likely November. As such, this means that the iPhone 5 will simply launch with iOS 4.x.

Apparently the new OS will be a major rethink, hence the delay.

What will you get?

TechCrunch, citing two reliable sources, reports the autumn date and that the mobile OS will go through a major revamp. Additionally, Apple could still preview iOS 5 at its WWDC event where the new iPhone 5 is expected to be unveiled, though it won’t launch then.

Other details say Apple’s new mobile OS platform will be built around cloud computing, with several new services from Apple launching in conjunction with it to take advantage of this. These new services will apparently include the long-rumoured iTunes locker, as well as a location service built around finding friends and family.

Strange, but interesting

It’s certainly unusual to see Apple break out of a tried-and-true formula like this. However, if TechCrunch’s sources are correct about what work is being put into iOS 5, it makes sense. In the interim, you can now buy the iPad 2 in the UK, while iPhone 4 sales keep churning along steadily. Outside of better push notifications, we haven’t had a chance to think through what we want from Apple’s new mobile OS. Have you thought of what you’d like to see?

Photo: Axel Bührmann /Flickr

When Microsoft began rolling out its Windows Phone 7 pre-update that made some handsets stop working, the company was rightfully rapped on the knuckles for it. Now with the first major WP7 update, codenamed ‘NoDo’, rolling out extremely slowly with several users still not having access to it, Microsoft is blowing it again. Or, rather, should that be Microsoft is taking the blame for carriers blowing it?

Consumers are not happy

PCWorld has an article detailing the many user complaints left in the comment thread on the Microsoft blog post announcing the Windows Phone 7 update.

One user, going by ‘jimpict’, summing up the feelings of the entire WP7 community commenting on that thread, writes: ‘This is wholly unacceptable, and, as we all know, it is also wholly unnecessary.’ He continued, saying: ‘You have betrayed the trust of early adopters, and your inability to get out a single update with anything even resembling moderate success only shows either how deeply you misunderstand the hostility toward your product you have generated or just how incredibly incompetent you are at a basic and fundamental task.’

iTunes

Windows Phone 7’s reliance on carriers to push out updates confirms why iTunes is such a significant cog in Apple’s success. When the iOS updates for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch are ready, Apple pushes it out to its digital retail and management platform. Everybody around the world with an internet connection, iTunes installed on their computer and the appropriate iOS device connected, will be prompted with an update message.

As a Windows Phone 7 – and even a Google Android – user you are beholden to carriers to push out the updates for your handsets.

Microsoft has to take this on the chin

Love it or hate it – and there are legitimate reasons to deeply dislike iTunes – one cannot deny the power of the platform. And to answer the question we set ourselves at the outset, it doesn’t matter if the carriers are to blame for Microsoft struggling to roll out the Windows Phone 7 update. The fact is WP7 users are left high and dry waiting. And that won’t do this new mobile OS platform any good against other smartphone ecosystems.

Photo: Inferis / Flickr

If you ask the music industry if Apple and iTunes destroyed their business with their vice grip on the digital download space, you’ll hear a resounding yes. Aged rocker Jon Bon Jovi didn’t even mince words when he said exactly that. Now the US antitrust board is reportedly calling on Steve Jobs to answer antitrust questions on whether Apple did, in fact have a monopoly on digitally downloaded music.

Real Networks vindicated

Bloomberg reports that lawyers representing consumers who filed a complaint back in 2005 have been awarded limited questioning of Jobs, as issued by US Magistrate Judge Howard R. Lloyd. They’ve been given a maximum time of two hours for the deposition, and are only allowed to discuss a software change Apple made back in 2004, which stopped RealNetworks-engineered files from playing back on the Apple iPod devices.

Lloyd said: ‘The court finds that Jobs has unique, non-repetitive, firsthand knowledge about the issue at the centre of the dispute over RealNetworks software.’

Not so harmonious, are we?

On 24 July 2004 RealNetworks announced they would be retailing music from their online store that buyers would be able to play on their Apple iPod personal music payers. RealNetworks called this technology ‘Harmony’. A mere five days later, the iPod maker announced updates to the devices FairPlay software that would render Real’s files inoperable on an Apple iPod device, explained the presiding judge.

In short, Jobs needs to answer to this, and it is central to the question as to whether Apple had a digital music monopoly, and whether the company abused this position.

Something fishy

It’s difficult to suggest that Apple had a digital music monopoly. The fact of the matter is there were other mp3 players on the market back then even, and other digital music retail outlets. Really, the argument here is whether Apple was allowed to keep its iTunes and iPod combination proprietary. At the very least, it should make for an interesting deposition.

Photo: Neil Boyd / Flickr

Apple yesterday announced that they had changed their in-app purchasing policy for iOS devices. The company says this is with the aim to protect users, especially children, who’ve been known to rack up massive iTunes charges by purchasing items in applications indiscriminately.

No window period

iOS 4.3, Apple’s latest software update, comes with a feature requiring one to enter a password when purchasing items within an application. Previously there was a 15-minute window period between password inputs, meaning even after buying an application for their children, the child has that timeframe to go wild buying virtual goods within a game without the need to re-input a password.

Some of the highest grossing games on the app store, like Smurfs’ Village and Tap Zoo, are free-to-download titles, which rely on in-app purchases to make money. Given their child-focused design, it’s no surprise they’re the ones often cited when talking about children making indiscriminate purchases.

Side-stepping the law

While various tech sources had been pressuring Apple about this issue, it seems the possibility of the FTC getting involved was sufficient for the company to develop a solution to the problem. US representative Edward Mackay wrote a letter to the FTC, encouraging them to look into the matter. In it, he said: ‘I am disturbed by news that in-app purchases may be taking advantage of children’s lack of understanding when it comes to money and what it means to “buy” an imaginary game piece on the Web.’

Apple have done their bit by allowing parental control settings restricting in-app purchases so as to protect iTunes accounts from unintended charges. Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller says that: ‘We are proud to have industry-leading parental controls with iOS,’ and, to their credit, Apple dealt with this issue before it became a massive problem for them.’