Apple Recruits Trojan Horse To Attack Android

As I highlighted in Forbes’ weekly digest of news from Cupertino, Apple is on the hunt for Android software engineers (the job listing is currently here, and copied below). While there is natural speculation about what other projects the engineers could be working on (after all, the job description does say “exciting new mobile products” plural), it’s worth remembering just how pivotal Apple Music on Android could be to the continued success of Apple in the new cloud-based future of mobile.

Apple advertises for Android engineersPhoto by: image: Apple.com

Unlike Microsoft’s current zeal for ensuring its apps are available on every mobile platform to drive consumers to use its cloud services, Apple rarely works on applications for other platforms. When it does, it’s smart to pay attention. In a way, it matches Microsoft’s plan to get as many people signed up to its cloud as possible. It’s also about tempting users to consider moving away from something comfortable to an alternative… an Apple alternative.

The most visible application available on a non-Apple platform at this point in time is iTunes for Windows. Historically the release of iTunes for Windows saw the iPod go from a niche peripheral on a very small OS platform, to the music player (and then media player) that captured the world’s attention and brought about the second generation of smartphones with the launch of the iPhone.

That in turn saw consumer look at the iTunes/iPod package and consider the alternative that Apple was offering not just with the iPod and then the iPhone, but also with the Mac range of computers. The bridgehead established by iTunes opened up the idea of using Apple as an alternative.

With Apple Music set to debut on Android, it appears that twelve years after Apple put the move on Microsoft, it is about to use the same move against Android.

Apple Music is tightly tied into Apple’s cloud services. The subscription service will be based on someone’s Apple ID, so any new users will have to create an account on Apple’s servers. If they want to use Apple Music to listen to music offline, to save playlists from the service, or to synchronise music over multiple devices, the iCloud Music Library part of Apple’s cloud services will need to be switched on. And that’s the point at which the baited hook will have been swallowed.

Source: Forbes