Google has recently moved into podcasts with their new app, and while it’s still finding its feet a new Trademark filing points to Google working on a new app called Shortwave.
The app, or at least the name, was recently trademarked with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) with the description ‘allow[ing] users to search, access, and play digital audio files, and to share links to audio files’.
Following up with Google, The Verge were advised that the app is actually the work of the companys San Francisco based Area 120 incubator. A Google Spokesperson advised the app is not related to any existing product, saying
One of the many projects that we’re working on within Area 120 is Shortwave, which helps users discover and consume spoken-word audio in new ways. Like other projects within Area 120, it’s a very early experiment so there aren’t many details to share right now.
What Shortwave would offer beyond the Google Podcasts app isn’t clear, though if it’s been developed independently from Podcasts it may be something quite new and exciting. No time-frame has been given for release, so we’ll have to wait a while longer to see what comes of this.
