Apple Inc. (AAPL) Rumors – Streaming Music Site LaLa a Buyout Target?

Here is your daily Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL ) stock news and rumors for October 27, 2010. The Cupertino, California company continues to expand in China with the debut of online shopping at Apple’s website and the Chinese App Store on the iPhone and iPad. The cloud-based iTunes is still nowhere to be seen, but a new rumor points to Apple acquiring yet another streaming music service to keep competition low. Finally, the white colored iPhone 4 is delayed yet again. Apple App Store and Apple.com Web Shopping Debut in China: The iPhone’ popularity has been on the rise in Beijing, with telecom China Unicom unable to keep up with demand for the new iPhone 4. Apple’s smartphone should get yet another boost in the country with the launch of China’s new App Store. Announced in a press release late last night, the new Chinese App Store will feature localized game and service software from a library of 300,000 existing apps, though it’s unclear if the service is launching with new apps unique to China. Apple has also launched an online storefront at Apple.com.cn, marking the first time Apple is providing official direct sales in the territory. The new digital shopping outlets are just the latest moves in Apple’s Chinese expansion in 2010, following the opening of four Apple retail stores and the launch of the iPad, WiFi iPhone 3G, and iPhone 4. Streaming Music Service Spotify to be Acquired by Apple: The maxim in the digital music marketplace seems to be, “Even if they can’t beat you, acquire them anyway.” Apple has yet to announce their own cloud-based streaming music service (though they were expected to last September when iTunes 10 was revealed), and there is no concrete timeline for when they may make the transition away from download sales. That hasn’t stopped them buying up major streaming music services though. Last year, Apple acquired growing U.S.-based streaming music website Lala. Now, according to a rumor at TechCrunch , Apple is going to acquire Lala’s European counterpart Spotify. It was rumored that Spotify was trying to break into the U.S. Spotify’s efforts have been blocked by Apple’s encouraging of music labels not to work with them. While acquiring Spotify would remove a possible competitor, it would also frustrate Apple’s cloud-based iTunes ambitions, as existing distribution contracts with music labels would be nullified if Spotify was acquired. White iPhone 4 Delayed Until Early 2011: Users holding out for a white colored model of the iPhone 4 will have to be patient for just a bit longer. Reuters is reporting that Apple has delayed the white iPhone 4′s release for a third time. The model was originally expected to ship shortly after the original black model that debuted in June. After getting pushed back to a late July release, Apple said that the white iPhone 4 would instead ship in late 2010. Now, the device isn’t planned until next spring. Apple hasn’t confirmed why the model has been delayed so long, but rumors claim that the chief problem is color matching disparate components of the phone in the manufacturing process. As of this writing, Anthony Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
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