Forbes reports that Google may be on the verge of launching a music download service to compete with Apple's incredibly popular iTunes.com service.
Bear Stearns maintained an "outperform" rating on Google and said the Internet search giant may be looking to expand into the MP3 downloading business.
"We believe that Google is in the midst of creating its own iTunes competitor, which we've dubbed 'Google Tunes'," the analyst wrote in a client note issued today. "We think this is a logical step, now that the nascent Google Video product has been introduced."
Analyst Robert Peck speculated that it makes sense for Google to create a rival for the popular iTunes service by Apple Computer, given the explosive growth of unique visitors to the iTunes' Web site.
The article says that in addition to iTunes, Google will have to compete with other music download services like Yahoo Music, Real.com and Napster. Google would be late to the party but it would have the massive Google traffic and popular brand name behind the new service. Google will need a much better start than they had with the Google Video debut.
