By will-buy
Google Assistant can now play Apple Music on Google Nest smart speakers and other devices which use the voice assistant. Listeners can either ask Google Assistant to experience audio specifically from Apple Music or set the streaming service as the default for just about any songs or playlists they want to hear. The news fits with Google’s ongoing revamp of their media services and goes well with the way the company hyped the audio hardware from the new Google Nest Audio at the smart speaker’s debut captured.
Nesting Apple
Apple Music is available just like YouTube, Pandora, and Spotify are through Google Assistant. Any Apple Music subscriber can link their account in the Google Home app, then ask Google Assistant to play any of the music on the platform and any accessible playlist. Such as the other streaming platforms, Apple Music can enjoy on multiple speakers simultaneously, benefiting from the improvements to Google’s smart home system when it comes to playing music.
Apple Music is only obtainable in a few countries right now, but Google has indicated it'll expand globally with time. Bringing Apple Music towards the platform means Google Assistant now matches Amazon Alexa, which first started streaming Apple Music in 2023. While Google and Amazon lack each other’s native audio platforms, both of them are still in front of the Apple HomePod and new HomePod Mini, that is limited to Apple Music and Pandora as streaming options.
Google Sounds
For Apple, the advantage is more to keep and potentially even grow the Apple Music audience. The company’s streaming services are enormously popular because of the legions of iPhone users, but that may not be sustainable if customers find it difficult to listen to the service at home. Notably, there was a rumor at the begining of 2023 that Apple Music had arrived on the internet Home devices. That ended up being untrue also it was just through Google Assitant on iOS devices that Apple Music was playable a minimum of until nearly 2 yrs later.
The timing from the news is interesting, coming as Google just finished transitioning its music from Google Play to YouTube Music's streaming service, with a lot more features like playlist creation on Android and Google Assistant. It’s also just a couple months after the Nest Audio smart speaker and its powerful sonic features presented to customers. The smart speaker performs more like a speaker that integrates Google Assistant than a Google Assistant device with a good speaker, the Nest Audio been extending its capabilities. The question is if adding Apple Music will materially change which voice assistant people use or lessen the number who switch in search of their most favorite music streaming service.
