“Google and Amazon.com, each recently unveiling virtual lockers for digital music, face big obstacles taking on Apple,” Martin Peers reports for The Wall Street Journal. “Most obviously, that’s because of its already dominant position through iTunes. Less obvious: Apple’s approach is potentially cheaper for consumers and much more lucrative for the company. Apple is effectively making a bet on the falling cost of flash memory, while the Google and Amazon efforts expose consumers to the rising cost of Internet bandwidth.”
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“Google’s and Amazon’s services involve users streaming content from cloud-based servers to their devices,” Peers reports. “But with wireless operators introducing usage-based pricing for data, frequent streaming could add to cellphone bills. AT&T’s wireless service, for instance, charges $25 a month for two gigabytes of data and $10 for each additional gigabyte.”
Peers reports, “Apple’s strategy, on the other hand, rests on consumers storing their content locally on their devices. Its new iCloud service allows consumers to easily sync their music collections to any of their Apple devices. Aside from the initial sync, a Web connection isn’t necessary.”
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