Apple has purchased Lala

Yesterday was notable for the swell of competing and sometimes conflicting rumors that talks between the streaming music service and the Cupertino, California-based Mac, iPod and iPhone maker were getting hot and heavy. Now, Apple’s confirmed that it has purchased Lala, though details are sparse.

“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not comment on our purpose or plans,” said Apple spokesman Steve Dowling in a statement quoted by Reuters.

Lala.com is a digital music streaming service with 100,000 subscribers and revenues of about $10 million. It’s believed that Apple, which dominates digital music with 70 percent of download and 70 percent of the player markets, is moving to expand its franchise into music streaming.

However, as noted by The New York Times, Lala’s major label licenses are not transferable, which would seem to obviate the immediate possibility of entering the streaming market. Thereupon, unnamed individuals said Apple’s purchasing the firm primarily for its engineers and management talent, including its energetic co-founder Bill Nguyen.

Interesting, but there are too many unanswered questions…

What’s your take?

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