Report: Google Wants to Launch an iTunes Competitor by Christmas

According to a recent Reuters report, Google is gunning for its long-rumored mobile-based iTunes competitor, which may or may not be called Google Music, to launch by Christmas of this year. This jibes with previous rumors that the service would launch alongside Android 3.0 in fall or winter of 2010.

Here’s the thing: according to the Reuters report, Google has yet to sign a licensing deal with a single major label, though the music industry is reportedly “excited” about the prospect of iTunes getting a serious competitor in online music.

Reuters:

Google has yet to sign any licensing deals with major labels, these people say, but it hasn’t stopped the labels getting excited about the prospect of its entry to the business and what competition with iTunes could mean for the industry.

“Finally here’s an entity with the reach, resources and wherewithal to take on iTunes as a formidable competitor by tying it into search and Android mobile platform,” said a label executive who asked not to be identified. “What you’ll have is a very powerful player in the market that’s good for the music business.”

Note that even if it comes together, this service may run only on Android phones.

Whereas Apple disappointed rumors that it was releasing a cloud-based music service at its recent press announcement when it showed off Ping instead, it seems hard to imagine that Google would release a music service that wasn’t cloud-based, given the company’s philosophy; we’d be interested in Google’s entry into the field if only for the sake of greater competition and more options for consumers.

(Reuters via TNW. title image via Google Doodles [Vivaldi’s birthday])

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Robert Quigley