By Alice Hill
RealTechNews

Now I am officially scared. The anaylysts are running wild once again. Case in point: an analyst named Robert Peck from Bear Sterns has speculated that Google is building a competitor to Apple’s successful iTunes music platform. But bear with me…

“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. Source: Forbes

We Say: The key to Apple’s success is that it couples the iPod to the music platform. I have long preferred Yahoo’s music service that charges a flat fee, but the real money is locked into Apple’s stranglehold on the iPod. Google would need some serious hardwre or make the music 100% free to succeed. So why report on this? If Google is about serving ads, a free ad-based music platform could shake things up and that sounds very, very possible.