iTunes future is becoming more clearer every day. It will probably evolve into a media hub in the cloud, which contains music, movies, applications, games and books. Apple was working on iTunes X, when iTunes 9.x was delivered. A lot of users where disappointed by the fact that it still wasn’t rewritten in Cocoa. But nobody said iTunes would keep it’s current form, that of a desktop application. Apple’s has been pushing HTML5 like no other. And all it’s major technologies are relying on it (WebKit): iTunes, iTunes LP, Safari, Dashboard, MobileMe, iPhone etc.
So let’s look at the evidence ladies and gentlemen: Up first, browser-based iTunes Preview. Since iTunes already relies on WebKit for rendering, it’s a no-brainer that the same content can be rendered in a modern browser.
Second, Apple has the partners/labels, content, hardware to pull this of, but more important: the infrastructure. Apple has one of the largest data centers facilities in the world, located at the east coast in Maiden, North Carolina (500.000 square feet) and one on the west coast in Newark, California (100,000 square feet). That would qualify as some whoopin ass-kicking storage volume.
Third, streaming music services like Last.fm, The Hype Machine and Lala take data away from the client and into the cloud. If the rumors are true then Apple has bought Lala. Apple loves small prices lately and Lala’s business model revolves around not just being your average jukebox in the cloud but letting your own tracks for streaming forever. 10 cents per track. $1 per album. With four major labels (EMI Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group) on board and lots of indies (170,000 independent labels), the catalog (8 million songs) looks good. Although there are some other sources claiming it’s about the developers of Lala.
It can be a broader vision than iTunes alone (MobileMe, iWork.com) it can be the biggest cloud ambition in the tech sector!
Will iTunes go into the cloud? Probably! When? Ask Steve! 
But one thing is for sure Apple will bring you the next revolution in digital music.
Update: Apple has bought Lala read more here and has also bought Quattro Wireless read more here.
