Is Bose Launching a Music Streaming Service?
Bose makes high-end speakers and audio products, and has for a lot longer than the Apple-owned Beats. Interestingly, a job posting was spotted recently that seems to indicate Bose’s intention to follow Beats’ lead into the music streaming business, where it’ll join a ridiculously overcrowded field of competitors.
According to a post on TheNextWeb from yesterday, which itself loops back to a post on Hypebot, Bose is looking for a Senior User Experience Designer: Cloud Music Services. That person will join the Algorithms & Cloud Experiences group, which, well, probably is building a music streaming service for Bose.
But while the post on TheNextWeb dismisses Bose’s efforts in that regard, it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea to my eyes. It’s impossible to know what Bose is planning other than “music streaming.” It seems likely, though, that they’re building a music streaming service that will entice customers to buy new sound systems from them.
My guess is that Bose is building this service as an exclusive feature for their customers, to which they’ll have free or nearly-free access with the purchase of a new sound system. I get the feeling that Bose wouldn’t necessarily provide access to consumers who don’t buy into Bose’s ecosystem. Why go after customers who already use Spotify or one of the hundreds of other music streaming services? This service will be by Bose, for Bose.
I’m just guessing, of course. There’s every chance that Bose is simply building another Spotify, though one with less of a reputation and one that doesn’t work as well. Even still, considering that Bose is still in the hiring phase, it’ll likely be a long while before we see any real-world evidence of the service.
[Sources: TheNextWeb, Hypebot]