Google’s YouTube just struck big deals with Apple and EMI. YouTube content will now stream through Apple TV units and users will be able to enjoy music videos from EMI artists. With the EMI deal, YouTube now holds official partnerships with all four music majors, including Warner, Universal, and Sony BMG. Nevertheless, the Apple TV partnership is likely to be more significant in the long run, as Internet-TV integration is a huge market opportunity and the YouTube-Apple TV deal may signal greater long-term collaboration between Apple and Google. An interesting BusinessWeek article by Arik Hesseldahl reports:
And it’s [The YouTube-Apple TV deal] likely to be a harbinger of future cooperation between the two companies, especially considering their existing ties. “You can’t rule out more collaboration,” Bajarin says [president of tech consultancy Creative Strategies]. Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Google adviser Al Gore sit on Apple’s board of directors. The companies have a history of collaboration. A Google Maps application, complete with satellite photos, was one of the headline features Jobs demonstrated when he first unveiled the iPhone in January. How might Google and Apple build on their bonds? Apple TV could incorporate additional Google features, like the ability to search for clips instead of navigating Apple TV’s existing control panel, which is more like that of a digital video recorder, Bajarin says.
With Eric Schmidt sitting on Apple’s board, it’s pretty hard not to think the companies are partnering for the long-run in TV-Internet innovation.
(Google-Apple hybrid logo from ZDNet)
