Google Announces Video Store: Apple Concerned or Happy?
So Google Video is finally here, eh.
I’m not here to repeat the announcement but wonder instead about the implications for Apple.
It’s one thing for Apple to run rings of coolness around Microsoft (at least from a hip perspective, certainly not a revenue perspective), that’s like taking candy from a baby…. but it’s quite another for Steve Jobs to do that against the current darlings, Google.
Of course, Google doesn’t have a hardware device that consumers could use but in general it seems like Apple should be grinning ear to ear that others are legitimizing the video space. Apple should have an auto-downloader for Google content right onto your iPod.
…or could Google get into portable music/video hardware too? Google Mini-Cube, anyone? Can Marissa Mayer design consumer devices too? 
Ok back to reality. One thing this does for Apple: reduce their leverage in the video space. Steve Jobs has the music publishers over a barrel. It doesn’t look like video will play out the same way.