Apple, the largest online distributer of music, has confirmed that they have purchased the music service, Lala according to Reuters. The details of the sale have not been released by Apple and the final sale price may never be known.
What Apple is planning to do with the newly acquired IP is unknown; Lala over lapped Apple"s iTunes store in many areas except that Lala offeres a music streaming service. It would seem logical that Apple is looking for ways to adapt its iTunes business model by including streaming services.
The service, which has about 100,000 subscribers, offers user the ability to stream any song once for free and then charges 10 cents a month for unlimited streams or purchase the song with prices starting at 79 cents. The big key here for Apple is that the service offers streams only, which means that if you are not connected to the internet then you will have no music at all. It is likely that this will be Apple"s response to the popular Zune subscription music service.
When Apple will incorporate the technology into its iTunes service is unknown. Apple will need to test the waters to see if such a service, presented along side its traditional music offerings, will cannibalize sales.