Google is hoping to debut an Internet-based digital music service that would launch later this year in conjunction with version 3 of its popular Android operating system for smartphones, according to various media reports.

The news is notable considering the heated competition between Google and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) on the mobile front; executives from each company have taken pot shots at the other in recent months, highlighting the rapid pace of innovation on the smartphone battlefield. In digital music, Apple has a leg up on Google thanks to its popular iTunes store, but Google in May showed off a service that would allow users to store and stream their music to their Android phones from a cloud-based Internet service.

Now, according to separate reports from Reuters and the Los Angeles Times citing unnamed sources familiar with the efforts, Google is deep into licensing negotiations for the service with record labels, with the hopes of launching a music service alongside Android 3.0 in time for the critical fourth quarter holiday shopping season. Google's Andy Rubin--chief of the company's Android business--is spearheading the talks, according to the reports.

Some record company executives see Google as a welcome alternative to a digital music scene dominated by Apple's iTunes. "Finally here's an entity with the reach, resources and wherewithal to take on iTunes as a formidable competitor by tying it into search and Android mobile platform," said a record label executive quoted by Reuters who asked not to be identified. "What you'll have is a very powerful player in the market that's good for the music business."

Of course, Apple is not standing still. The company this week introduced a social-networking service, dubbed Ping, for its iTunes platform. However, the company mentioned nothing about a streaming music service, which many have expected since Apple acquired LaLa in December.

For more:
- see this Reuters article
- see this LA Times article

Related articles:
Google tuning up digital music store for late 2010 launch
Google plotting premium music service tied to search
Google to add streaming music service to Android
iTunes now 70 percent of digital music sales, but Amazon growing
Apple's iTunes surpasses 10 billion song downloads

Mobile users are flocking to Twitter at record rates. In a blog post yesterday the company said Twitter mobile users have increased 62 percent since mid-April. In addition, 16 percent of all new users to Twitter start on mobile.

Twitter credits the jump in mobile users to the launch of its Twitter-branded mobile client for the iPhone. Twitter said the branded client is bringing in more active users and is helping the company attract and retain active users. In fact, 46 percent of active users make mobile part of their Twitter experience. Twitter plans to take its branded client to other platforms. This week, it launched a Twitter-branded mobile client for Research in Motion BlackBerry devices and for Android devices.

Just last month independent research firm comScore reported nearly 93 million users worldwide accessed Twitter in June 2010, a year-over-year increase of 109 percent. In addition, the firm found close to 25 million North American users accessed Twitter in June. The service enjoys a higher maturity level in North America than in other global regions, posting year-over-year growth of 22 percent. comScore notes that 8.3 percent of U.S. smartphone users (about 4.2 million consumers in all) now access Twitter.com via mobile device each month, outpacing the U.K. (5.8 percent of smartphone users), Germany (3.1 percent) and France (2.1 percent).

For more:
- see this blog post

Related articles:
comScore: Smartphones driving Twitter adoption in U.S.  
Twitter bans third-party advertising alternatives  
Twitter unveils Promoted Tweets ad effort  
Twitter for iPhone hits the App Store   
Twitter's Tweetie acquisition fuels developer anxiety

Research firm Analysys Mason estimates mobile operators could lose up to $27 billion in annual voice, SMS and data revenue because of customers that decide to switch operators over their mobile content offerings. The firm said a mobile operator in a developed market with a 35 percent market share could lose 4 percent of its market share over the next five years if it decides to stop investing in mobile content and applications. Release