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.

An Email From Apple Can Ruin The Holidays

You've gone to the Apple Store, and you've purchased that special someone a surprise gift. Let's say an iPod. Imagine your surprise when you arrive home to discover that person already knows you bought it. How? Because Apple emailed them.

Below is a screenshot from an email our tipster recently received after buying an iPod. Problem is no one at the Apple store mentioned there would be an email, or asked if it was a gift. Apparently due to the credit card used to purchase the iPod being previously linked to an email address, Apple sent out the email. Some families, especially those who share music libraries, might use a shared email address.

Maybe Apple could lay off on the purchase-based emails until January...

screenshot of email sent to the purchaser (and potentially the receiver)

TDL Live This Week: (12/7 - 12/13)

Don't adjust your sets: If something seems a little different about this week's show, it's because it's the debut of the newest member of the TDL team: Catherine Tillson. This week's news includes AT&T's customer satisfaction slide, Apple's satisfaction rebound, a new danger for iPhone users, game console boasting, Apple settles a lawsuit with change from the company couch ($21 million).

Enjoy:

Apple Acquires Lala. The Game Changes Again

The Wall Street Journal says, it's official: Apple is now the proud owner of music streaming service Lala. It's curious that Apple would purchase this type of service when it seems they could throw some switches and levers in a back room somewhere to start a streaming service. Of course there's Lala's agreements with Google for their Discover Music service. 

Could a Tuesday announcement be in the works?

Looking for Apple's Tablet Screen? Look to Pixel Qi

There's a lot we don't know about Apple's rumored tablet. But here's what we do know: It will need a screen, it will need to serve as a (color) e-reader, and it will need to do it all with super low power consumption. Oh, and either to pad Apple's bottomline, or to offer the device at a jaw-dropping low price, it will need to be cheap. And let's throw in the ability to view it in bright sunlight while we're at it.

At first it sounds like a unicorn of the tech world. Surely all these things aren't possible, maybe in ten years, but not now, right? Not quite.

Earlier we mentioned Nicholas Negroponte's lecture this week, regarding the design of the OLPC laptop. He had nothing but good things to say about the display on the device:

"This was key: How do you build a display that was both reflective and transmissive. Which has been done before, but not at a price anybody could afford. And she found a way to do it, and I believe in the next couple of months you'll see this appear, in the eBook market, which would be really interesting, because if somebody in the eBook market makes a display that is both transmissive and reflective, it's going to be a very different ball game."

Let's back up a second to the "she" Negroponte is referring to: That's Mary Lou Jepsen, former OLPC chief technology officer who has since left to form Pixel Qi, a company founded to commercialize the same revolutionary display technology. Pixel Qi's VP of Engineering is none other than Dr. Carlin Vieri who came to Pixel Qi from Apple, where according to his bio on the company site, "he engineered new generation display electronics for the iPhone and other devices."

See how we're connecting the dots? We wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see Pixel Qi acquired by Apple just around the same time as the tablet is announced. No need to clue the competition to your display choice early. It would be similar to Apple's acquisition of Fingerworks just before multitouch at Apple took off. 

A very different ball game, indeed.