The war between Google and Apple is moving to a new frontier -- music.
Google is expected to unveil an online music store on Wednesday in its latest assault on the Cupertino, Calif.-based company.
The tech giants have already tussled over Google's Android technology and the mobile phone market. Both also want to take the television industry by storm and wring as much money as possible out of video streaming.
But this is another battle all together.
The new Google music service represents a direct challenge to Apple and its iTunes Store, the dominant digital music purchasing service, and a cornerstone to Apple's resurgence under late co-founder Steve Jobs.
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Like rival Amazon, both companies plan to leverage cloud technology with their music services.
“So, what’s happening here is that people are battling to be the primary repository service agent for people’s digital content, and by content I mean personal content as well as commercial content,” said Frank Gillett, a principal analyst at Forrester Research.
The particulars remain unclear since Google is declining to comment on its music service in advance its launch, including for this story. Apple did not respond to inquiries, either.
However, several details about Google's music service have been widely reported.
>> Google is enhancing the Music Beta service it launched in May, which allowed people to upload their digital music files to an online locker.
>> The new service will apparently include licensing deals with three of the four major labels -- EMI and Universal, which are awaiting regulatory approval on a merger, and Sony. A source close to the negotiations confirmed to TheWrap that Universal and EMI were in; the Wall Street Journal reported Sony has agreed as well. Sony did not respond to requests for comment.
>> The service will also enable users to share a free listen or two of a song using the Google + social networking platform.
>> Most important, there will be a store, and this is where the challenge to Apple comes in.
Over the past decade, iTunes has become the king of the digital download market -- at least in the legal realm.
And though newer subscription services like Spotify may be the future, the Dutch import doesn’t even have 1 million subscribers in the U.S.
Also read: Amazon Looks to Take Bite Out of Apple, iTunes With Cloud Storage Service
Meanwhile, iTunes has been universally adopted and Apple’s latest addition -- iTunes Match -- makes it even better.
For $25, Apple will now upload one’s entire library to the iCloud, making it accessible from any device.
Now Google, whose Music Beta has yet to make a big splash, is upping the stakes.
“You know Google has to catch up with Apple," said Robert Levine, author of “Free Ride,” a book about how digitization has affected cultural industries like music and film.
