Google Music launch appears imminent

Sources say Google has begun in-house testing of its rumored streaming music service, Google Music, which indicates an impending release.

Google’s iTunes competitor, Google Music, may soon be ready for its public debut, reports CNet. The company’s employees have reportedly begun in-house testing of the service, a sure sign that a new product is nearly ready to launch.
The test build of the Google Music app, which is said to stream users’ music libraries that are stored on Google servers, first leaked earlier this month after user “WhiteWindows” claimed on the XDA Developers forum that he had happened upon the Google Music streaming function after installing Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system, which includes a music app, on a rooted HTC EVO 4G. He was able to access the previously locked “Sync Music” feature, which gave him access to the streaming option.
According to “music industry insiders” who spoke with CNet on the condition of anonymity, “WhiteWindows” did indeed discover the Google Music app. But they said that the final version could differ greatly from that build.
Sources say Google had hoped to debut the service at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) music and technology festival in Austin, Texas. That plan was shelved, however, though the exact reason for that has not yet been revealed.
Google is currently in negotiations with “at least some of the top publishers” as well as with the four largest record labels, sources say. Delays to the launch of Google Music are at least partially due to the complexity of negotiating music rights for a cloud-based service (as opposed to standard song downloading rights).
This report is corroborated by comments made by Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha, who mentioned to the Guardian last month that Google had a “music service” in the works. A recent report from Billboard, which named executives rumored to be working on Google Music, adds further evidence that the streaming service is on its way.
Google denied our request to confirm or deny this report, saying only that the company does not “comment on rumour or speculation.” So it’s impossible to verify whether the release of a Google Music streaming service is indeed imminent. That said, past experience tells us that when this amount of chatter percolates in the press around a certain product, it’s a fairly safe bet to assume that the company has something up its sleeve. Until we get an actual confirmation from Google, however, make sure to store this one in your “rumor” file.

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Samsung shows iTunes-like social, reading, music, media, business ‘Hubs’ for Galaxy Tabs

In addition to announcing new tablets at CTIA, Samsung also showed off a whole suite of apps, services, and business features for its Galaxy Tab and Galaxy S devices.
In addition to unveiling a new 8.9-inch Galaxy Tab and redesigning its upcoming 10.1-inch offering a few moments ago, Samsung showed off a whole suite of software and services aimed at turning its line of touch tablets into a premium offering, much like Apple has done with its iTunes ecosystem on the iPad. The company rolled out the announcements at lightning speed and was loose on details, so bear with us if there are any inaccuracies.
Samsung’s entire Galaxy Tab line will come with its newest Android UI modification, TouchWiz 4.0. Upon first glance (we’ll have more detailed impressions soon), the new UI appears to smooth out a few of Android Honeycomb’s graphical shortcomings. Its biggest features are “Live Panels,” a new widget system, and a new “Mini App Tray.”
Live Panels: Samsung has created a new set of new, large widgets for Android 3.0 and an easy way to resize and reorganize them on your homescreen. Many of these widgets are “Hub” apps that I will describe in a bit.
Mini Apps Tray: Similar to the iPad, this is a row of large shortcuts at the bottom of the homescreen. It looks very similar to OSX and iOS.
In addition to its user experience enhancements to Android Honeycomb, Samsung users on Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab devices will soon get access to a new suite of apps that Samsung is calling “Hubs.” These were first unveiled at the Mobile World Congress, but will now be on tablets as well.
Social Hub: This hub hopes to be a unified inbox for all your communication needs. Email, calendar, contacts, social networks, and messaging will all be condensed into one location. Facebook hopes to accomplish this as well. Organizing all of this data is always harder than it appears.
Readers Hub: This app will have a full e-book library, 2300 magazines, newspapers, and other reading material for sale or subscription.
Music Hub: Samsung is getting into the ring with iTunes. It plans to sell music on its own service (we assume MP3s as no streaming feature was announced). Sony recently announced its own media store as well.
Media Hub: This app will have “first-run movies and next day TV shows” available. We don’t know exactly how the rental/purchasing will work or how much it will cost. No details were announced.
A boatload of business features were announced for the Galaxy Tabs as well. In an attempt to make IT departments happier, the Galaxy Tabs will have data encryption, a BusinessObjects Explorer that lets you take business documents on the go, Exchange ActiveSync support, Sybase support, Cisco AnyConnect, and productivity software similar to Microsoft’s Office suite which will allow users to create PowerPoint slideshows, Word documents, and Excel documents.
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