Apple further opens walled garden’s gate: Apple Music soon to launch on Google Home speakers

“Apple Music is apparently coming to Google Home speakers, yet another sign that Apple’s famous walled garden is beginning to show cracks and that Apple is putting its services in front of as many people as possible as hardware device sales slow,” Todd Haselton writes for CNBC.
“An option to link an Apple Music account appeared this week in the Google Home app, which is used to manage Google’s smart home devices like speakers and Nest cameras. But the sign-in process for Apple Music doesn’t work in the app yet. It was spotted on Tuesday morning before Google pulled it from the app later in the afternoon,” Haselton writes. “It seems likely that Google updated the Home app with the Apple Music option before it was ready.”
“The move might help persuade people to switch to Apple Music from other services, at least among those who own a Google Home as opposed to Apple’s more expensive HomePod speaker. The HomePod costs $349 — though retail partners often sell it for around $299 — while the Google Home Mini is much more approachable at $50,” Haselton writes. “Apple already offers an Android version of Apple Music, which has opened its music service up to the more than 2 billion monthly active devices that run Google’s operating system… Apple Music also recently launched on Amazon Echo devices.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: You’d have to be stupid to subscribe to Spotify when it has 40% fewer tracks than Apple Music for the same price. Apple Music boasts a catalog of 50 million songs; Spotify has just 30 million. Don’t be stupid. If you’re still subscribing to Spotify, it’s past time for you to cancel it and upgrade to Apple Music. (See also: How to move your Spotify playlists to Apple Music.)
SEE ALSO:
Apple Music now leads Spotify in the U.S., the No. 1 recorded music market – December 31, 2018
Why Apple Music surpassed Spotify in the U.S. – July 12, 2018
Apple slices into Spotify’s lead in U.S. music market – July 9, 2018
Apple Music now has more paying subscribers in the U.S. than Spotify – July 6, 2018
Apple revs up their own music publishing business – June 14, 2018
Oliver Schusser named new Apple Music chief as service passes 40 million subscribers – April 11, 2018
Apple Music hits 40 million paid subscribers milestone – April 4, 2018
Apple Music hits 38 million paid subscribers – March 12, 2018
Apple Music expands student membership pricing to 82 new countries – February 13, 2018
Apple Music poised to knock off Spotify – February 12, 2018
Apple Music was always going to win – February 6, 2018
Apple Music on track to overtake Spotify, become No. 1 streaming service in U.S. this summer – February 4, 2018
Apple Music and Spotify now account for the majority of music consumption in the UK – January 3, 2018
Spotify files for its IPO – January 3, 2018
Spotify hit with $1.6 billion lawsuit from music publisher – January 2, 2018
Apple Music passes Pandora and Spotify in mobile usage – March 29, 2017
Spotify hits 50 million paid subscribers – March 3, 2017
Apple Music surpasses 20 million paid members 17 months after launch – December 6, 2016
Oh ok, Spotify listeners are upgrading to Apple Music – July 19, 2015
Spotify CEO claims to be ‘ok’ with Apple Music – June 9, 2015