Social network Facebook is to launch its own app that will identify music and TV shows through a device’s in-built microphone on both iOS and Android platforms.
Facebook has decided to enter the market by launching the app to make it much easier to share on its social network the music the user is listening to and what TV show he or she is watching, 9 to 5 Mac reported.
However, the company already faces stiff competition from the established app Shazam, which is expected to be included as hard-wired software in the next iOS 8 operating system in combination with Apple’s voice-activated artificial intelligence (AI) software, Siri.
It remains to be seen whether Facebook will be able to break the market, as Shazam only recently continued its growth as the dominant music-recognition software available. Shazam has struck deals worth US$3m each with some of the largest music labels, including Warner, Sony and Universal.
Shazam also claims to have 460m active users and an estimated value of US$500m as it continues to push further marketing deals with retailers who can place advertisements within Shazam searches.
