iTunes Web Strategy: One Store To Rule Them All

When Apple acquired Lala last week, it looked certain that it was either to start a subscription component of iTunes, or to pick up some smart people with smart ideas.

Maybe, Apple's about to zig when you expect them to zag: Maybe iTunes, and more importantly, a future iTunes with books and magazines for a different device, is going to the web to be more... compatible.

The publishing world is already rallying around a few emerging e-publishing file standards, and it doesn't look like Apple will be able to barge in with a competing format. So why not open iTunes on the web, and start using the industry's format? It's a win-win for Apple: they appease publishers by "caving" to their format requirements, while also creating a store that can sell content to the occasional Kindle or Nook owner in addition to Apple tablet owners.

Disney, who, as you probably know, has a single biggest shareholder by the name of Steve Jobs, has been discussing a concept called Key Chest, which would allow you to buy media once, and watch it anywhere digitally. How can you do that if the media you purchase is locked inside the walls of iTunes? Simply make iTunes content accessible to a myriad of devices. I realize how out of character it would seem, but we could very well see Apple open API's to developers, and give the manufacturer of any device the tools necessary to allow playback of iTunes content. While Apple is tight-lipped on earnings from the App Store and iTunes, I think it's safe to say we're past the "just above break even" point Apple still claimed in June 2008. And hey, you might as well make a few bucks from the people who choose to buy a non-Apple device by making the store web-accessible, and content easily playable on a ton of devices.