Google Nest users in India can now stream songs from Apple Music

Google Nest users in India, Australia, Canada, South Korea and Mexico can now access content from Apple Music on Nest Mini, Nest Audio, Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max series of smart speakers, the Alphabet company said in a statement.  

Nest users will still have to subscribe to Apple Music to access its content. However, the availability of a music streaming platform with over 90 million songs is a big boost for music enthusiasts and Google Nest users in particular.  

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According to Google, Apple Music subscribers can search and play songs with voice commands to Google Assistant. They can also use Google Assistant to search music by genre, mood and activity and even set the app as the default music streaming service on the Nest devices. To set up Apple Music on Nest devices, users will have to first link the Apple Music account to the Google Home app.  

The support for Apple Music on Nest devices is available in a handful of markets. In 2020, it was rolled out for the first time in the US, UK, France, Germany and Japan.  

Google is the second leading brand in the global smart speaker market with 17% unit shipments as of October 2021, as per Statista. Amazon leads the market with a 26% share.  

Demand for smart speakers has also picked up in India.  

According to a February 2021 report by market research firm techARC, India shipped 1 million smart speakers for the first time in 2020.  

Google accounted for 11% of the smart speaker market in India. Google Nest devices are available in India at a starting price of Rs 6,999.  

Apple Music’s individual plan starts at Rs 99 per month, while the family plan which includes up to six accounts starts at Rs 149 per month. In October, Apple introduced a new voice plan, designed only for Siri, at a price of Rs 49 per month.