Google launched a slew of new products and services at its conference this week, pitting itself against the king digital content, Apple. But the entry of the world's largest search company to the music space may not be as foreboding for Apple as one might think.

At the company's I/O conference in San Francisco the company announced plans to enable renting movies and listening to music over the Internet using its Android Market.

Like Amazon's recent Digital Locker strategy, Google is also offering Music beta for Google which gives customers the ability to upload up to 20,000 songs to access from computers and mobile devices.

But the obvious competitor is Apple, which already has a massive installed base of users from its almost ubiquitous iPod and iPhone music players. Users of these devices can already access a drove of music, video, and other content from the associated iTunes store.

Apple is also gearing to head to the cloud as well. However more than a threat, the move may bode well for Apple.

It deflects all anti-trust arguments - particularly around content - and encourages continuous innovation, said Ben Reitzes of Barclays Capital.

Last month the company bought the iCloud domain and has been building a massive data-center in North Carolina to serve the users.

We believe Apple's new cloud initiative, combined with new software - could add major new features to the iOS platform across iPhone, iPad and the iPod Touch, Reitzes said.

Reitzes looks for Apple to use its cloud based iTunes/MobileMe service to further lock in customers to its ecosystem by making content available seamlessly on all of its devices -- including iPhones, iPads, iPod Touches and Macs.

Google won't make it easy. The company indicated that 100 million devices use Android with 400,000 new devices activated worldwide each day.

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