Google Inc (GOOGL)’s music service will now comprise free Web-radio stations, seeking to lure users days before Apple Inc. debuts its streaming feature.
Google is adding a free tier to its subscription streaming music service in the U.S., aiming to convert the millions of people who click on the Google Play Music app every month but turn away because they’re prompted for payment information. AP
The service uses Songza, an Internet radio app that Google attained a year ago but whose innovations it had reserved for paying customers.
Zahavah Levine, vice president of content partnerships for Google Play Music, said the free tier is a way to engage curious users.
“Up until now, this has been a lost opportunity to bring more people in,” she said.
According to publishers’ data verified by royalty tracking firm Audiam, Google Play Music had around 815,000 paying subscribers in the U.S. in December 2014, far behind market leader Spotify with 4.7 million. Spotify said this month that it now has 20 million paying subscribers globally. AP
Google Inc., a technology company, builds products and provides services to organize the information. The company offers Google Search, which provides information online; Google Now that offers information to users when they need it; AdWords, an auction-based advertising program; AdSense, which enables Websites that are part of the Google network to deliver ads; DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a marketplace for the trading display ad space; and other advertising platforms, such as AdExchange and AdMob.
Google Inc. (GOOG) launched its Android Wear smartwatch series before any of the others had even considered manufacturing such a wearable. Then came Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) decision to dip its feet into the smartwatch industry, overtaking Android Wear’s unit sales in a fraction of the time, while taking up the leader’s mantle from its closest counterpart.
In the battle between Google’s Android Wear and the Apple Watch, there is one smart watch, which had gone under the radar, that has appeared suddenly to grab a lot of popularity amongst US citizens. Come forth, Pebble’s second hardware iteration, Pebble Time, which initially started out as a Kickstarter campaign, quickly gaining the backing of an astonishing 78,000+ people, breaking all previous records on the popular funding platform and assisting raise an estimated $20 million for the company.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) is working on a new way to get the radio waves without damaging connectivity. This was a prominent problem in smartphones a few years ago, whereby users practiced low or no signals if they held their phone a certain way, blocking the transmitter. The strips on the iPhone are coated with plastic to enable radio waves easy passage to and from the iPhone, and prevent them from being blocked by the metal exterior.
Apple will improve the overall design though, as the patent shows. The patent, published on Thursday, outlines how Apple will work on a new composite metal material that is not dissimilar to the anodized metal found in current iPhones. The new metal will allow radio frequencies to pass through, eliminating the need for the two plastic strips next to the camera and giving the iPhone a completely metallic look.
The patent went on to point out how metal “is generally a high capacitive material,” which doesn’t work well with capacitive touchpads, and materials such as plastic and glass are not ideal for smartphones either. That is what drove Apple to come up with the composite material, which is explained in detail in the patent itself. Apple plans to use the new material on a number of products other than the iPhone. The material can coat the touchpad on Macs, which is not made of metal, and can even be used for touchscreens.
Apple Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, watches, and portable digital music players worldwide. The company also sells related software, services, accessories, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications.
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