Apple’s plans for a cloud-based iTunes music service may not be quite as sweeping as first thought. The company has apparently told the top music labels anything it offers in the next few months will probably be “modest in scope,” according to CNET.
Earlier rumors claimed Apple has been working on a cloud-based iTunes service that lets customers store their music and movie libraries online and stream that content to their computer, Apple TV, and iOS devices. The acquisition of the streaming music company LaLa at the end of 2009 was apparently part of that plan.
Lala’s engineers, now part of Apple’s development team, have been working on video-related services instead of music streaming, according to unnamed sources, hinting that a full scale iTunes streaming service may be waiting on better video support.
Apple is also still working on striking streaming music licensing deals with the record labels.
Assuming Apple’s cloud-based music service plans aren’t as sweeping as once thought, that’s good news for Google. The Internet search giant has been working on a music service of its own with plans to launch later this year. Without strong competition from Apple, Google could have a better chance at gaining a strong foothold in the streaming music market.
Apple hasn’t commented on the reports of its cloud-based iTunes plans, so for now they amount to little more than rumor and speculation.