Michael Simon, Macworld:

Shazam’s main strength is music identification, and that fits well into Apple’s current strategy. It’s not just Siri on our phones: AirPods, HomePod, and Apple Watch could benefit from Shazam’s uncanny ability to name that tune.

And:

On the new Pixel phones, Google has implemented a feature that displays the name of a song playing nearby even if Assistant hasn’t been asked. It’s a neat feature that’s all done locally, and I use far more often than I thought I would. A similar feature would be great on the iPhone, and with Shazam’s massive library at Apple’s disposal it would be far superior to Google’s.

And:

We will already be able to ask Siri to play things like the most popular song in 1986, but Shazam could amplify its knowledge considerably. It would be great to tap your AirPods and ask “Play the song that goes like this …” or “Play that Ed Sheeran song about Ireland.” Shazam might not be able to do that now, but the groundwork is certainly in place, particularly when paired with Apple’s own AI musical capabilities.

Read the rest of Michael’s article. Lots of interesting speculation. As you read, think about Apple’s dive into TV and movie production, as well as the company’s broader push into interactive media. The underlying technology could easily map the audio signatures of niche digital environments. Imagine saying or playing a line of dialog, identifying the instrumental background track inside a casino online, pulling the composer credits for a newly released indie game, or tapping a still from a movie and asking Siri what movie it’s from.

With ownership of Shazam, Apple can turn that tech loose on the entire ecosystem.