Reasons to Have Faith in the Google Music Beta

Many people were slightly underwhelmed at what functionalities went live at the Google Music beta’s launch. Not only was support missing from the world’s second largest music publisher Warner Music Group, but the Google Music beta was also missing core functionality to purchase music on Android devices and PCs. Google has started to roll out music purchases to specific Android phones since the original announcement, but it is still easy to sense that there is a cloud of uncertainty hanging over Google’s latest project.

To further complicate the situation, Google is not entering the cloud-based music market alone. Amazon’s Cloud Player and Apple’s iCloud and iTunes Match services already exist and are competing for money and mind share.  There are also other music services that offer alternative music purchasing services that have gained traction such as Spotify and Pandora that the Google Music beta has to compete with. With such well-established competition, it can be easy to dismiss Google Music to be another one of Google’s ill-fated ventures.

Siri's Impact in the Battle of the Smart Phones

The iPhone 4S and Siri

The recent launch of the 5^th generation iPhone 4S has not generated the stir that its legendary predecessor has four years ago, but while it does not compare to the original iPhone on the number of revolutionary functions, the iPhone 4S has one function that is poised to change the face of mobile devics; Siri.

As a comprehensive virtual assistant that accompanies iOS 5 on the iPhone 4S, Siri has disappointed those expecting a bit more versatility. In terms of potential and design direction though, Siri actually is a revolutionary function that is poised to change the way phones are used, and this is why Siri is Apple’s biggest salvo across the bows of Google and Microsoft’s mobile aspirations.