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Google, long rumored to be creating a Web-based music service to compete with Apple and now Amazon.com, confirmed it has purchased mobile music startup PushLife for about $25 million.
“We are excited to welcome the PushLife team to Google. We believe the team has a wealth of experience building cool mobile applications, and we think they’ll make a great addition to our mobile team,” a Google spokesperson told eWEEK.
Startup North broke the purchase price news. A source familiar with the buy told eWEEK the PushLife team, which includes founder and former RIM alum Ray Reddy, is moving to Google’s Waterloo office in downtown Kitchener, Ontario.
Google isn’t saying specifically what PushLife will do for the company.
Interestingly, the startup said in a brief note on its Website that it will be working on “improving the way applications look and making them easier to use,” but mentions nothing about any music applications.
But given PushLife’s pedigree, the buy is almost certainly a move to bolster the rumored Google cloud music strategy.
PushLife lets users port their Apple iTunes and Windows Media player music from desktops to smartphones based on Google’s Android and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry platforms.
Users can manage wallpapers, music, videos and ringtones, and create and edit playlists on their smartphones. Users can also share their playlists via Facebook and Twitter.
The move comes roughly a year after Google picked up Simplify Media, which lets users move music they own on their desktop that isn’t copy-protected and stream it to an Android phone.
The deal also comes less than one week after the Tech From 10 blog discovered a music app in a developers’ version of Android Market that is listed as Version 3.0.
The app, shown in more screenshots on Droid Life, is akin to the Android 3.0 “Honeycomb” music player included on tablets such as Motorola Mobility’s Xoom.
Clearly, a major new Google music app is afoot, which will help the company combat iTunes and Amazon.com’s new digital music locker, which lets users store music in Amazon’s bank of servers and stream over the Web on any PC, Mac, Android phone or Android tablet.