"Lala to close, iTunes.com to open?" and related posts

that Apple was preparing to launch something called iTunes.com – a browser-based cloud version of the music service sometime this year. And of course Apple’s purchase of Lala last year pointed to a move towards the ether too. But more than that, the move just makes perfect sense. For one thing if iTunes is in the cloud then it’s suddenly a lot less cumbersome for affiliate partners to sell iTunes tracks. At the moment, clicking on a buy button on – say – Spotify means that the user is redirected to the iTunes store in the iTunes client. A cloud-based version would make buying much easier, and would make more money for the industry generally and for Apple specifically.
Of course the main reason to launch cloudTunes is to enable users to access their music libraries and playlists from any device, including the next gen iPhone, also pending launch at the 7th June event. The big question is whether Apple will also launch a subscription service enabling users to listen to any music – not just music in their iTunes library – on their device for a monthly fee. Could the next gen iPhone Come With Music? We think that’s unlikely, primarily because that’s not what Lala was about, and it’s not what Apple bought. Still – we wouldn’t bet the house against such a move, especially not in the long term.



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