Apple In LaLa Land?

Apple’s acquisition of Lala.com in December meant, for many, that the launch of an iTunes cloud music service couldn’t be far behind. So far, the only sound coming from the service is that of crickets.

The thinking among music insiders was that Lala’s streaming-music technology could be easily plugged into iTunes, provided Apple obtained the proper licensing, according to CNET.

But eight months later, Apple has reportedly told the label suits that any cloud offering in the next few months is likely to be “modest in scope” and not include the functionality Apple outlined in earlier meetings.

What’s causing the delay isn’t clear, but could stem from a video project that Team Lala has reportedly been focusing on rather than music, and the recent departure from Apple of one of Lala’s founding execs.

On the bright side, addition of a cloud video service would be welcome by users who’ve maxed out hard drive space with video files, and a server farm Apple is building in North Carolina seems to be coming along nicely.

But Google’s competing service is charging up behind them, according to CNET, and with Android systems giving iPhone a run for its money, consumers look to have some real choices – at least someday.