October 29, 2009 Google leverages search to provide powerful Music Search, GPS for phone Play video

(NECN: Ted McEnroe) - The search giant Google became a giant with information - now they're leveraging that into some powerful new products for users.

This week, the company has announced two pretty cool developments.

The first has to do with a new phone coming out next week, the Motorola Droid, which will be the first phone running the latest version of Google's phone operating system, Android 2.0. The phone itself is getting some mixed reviews as an "iPhone killer." What makes it a game changer is a feature that runs you $100 or more on the iPhone and other devices - a full GPS including turn-by-turn directions, traffic, and other information you're already familiar with as a part of Google Maps. In short, your Android 2.0 phone gets you a free GPS Navigation system.

The demo is on the Google Blog, which also features more about yesterday's other announcement - of Google's Onebox music search. Google has partnered with online music firms Lala, Rhapsody, Pandora, imeem and Myspace to power music-related searches. In short, the Google effort

means if you search for a song in Google, not only will you get web pages that might feature lyrics, etc., you'll also get an audio preview from Myspace or Lala, a company that lets you upload your music collection to the cloud and then listen to it from any computer. Links from imeem, Rhapsody and Pandora give you ways to learn more about the bands and purchase their music.

What makes each of these features more noteworthy is that they integrate the power of Google's search to make them both far more user friendly. In the Google Maps Navigation feature, for example, you can ask the phone using Google voice commands for directions to a business rather than an address, or even to an event, and let Google search help you determine where that event is and get you there.

In Google Music Search, you can find songs by typing in lyrics, or album titles, and letting the site match the search with the music.

And then by using the partners, who already have agreements with record labels, Google gets access to music without needing to secure the rights, and the music labels get easier access to music buyers and potentially, bigger sales. (You might not see the music search yet in your search results, but it should appear in the next day or two.)

In both cases, it's Google integrating its powerful search tools with new partners - that makes the end product even more powerful than some of its competitors could ever create.