Apple Trademarks iTunes Live, Speculation Over A Lala-related Product

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Apple recently trademarked the name iTunes Live, just days after shutting down acquired music site, Lala. Further speculations now rises that Apple will release their own Lala-related product or service. However, most likely it’s just another name to add to Apple’s ever-growing number of trademarks.

iTunes Live becomes another trademarked name for Apple, but this time sparking off rumors that it might have something to do with Apple’s recent decision to shut down the music website, Lala.

Apple acquired the Lala Media early this year, for a reported $80 million. In May, Apple decided to shut down the website, with unconfirmed plans to create a similar product and service where users can purchase a song and be able to access and stream it online (without the need to play it in iTunes).

Would this new service be under iTunes Live? Apple has filed the trademark under:

• Class 35: Online retail store services in the field of entertainment featuring prerecorded musical, audio and audiovisual content.
• Class 41: Entertainment services, namely, arranging and conducting of concerts and live musical performances.

Class 35 is quite broad, which is why people are speculating that a Lala-related service could be heading to iTunes. However, if you’re familiar with iTunes Live, the two classes pretty much describe what the product currently is.

iTunes Live has been around since June 2006. It’s a name associated with the live concerts Apple holds in its stores and also recently the music event, iTunes Live London Festival 2010. The live performances are recorded and then sold via the iTunes Store.

In my opinion, I can’t see how Apple will create a Lala-like site or service just based on this one trademark. However, I would like to see Apple offering to stream these live concerts in real-time.

For now, iTunes Live would just continue doing what it’s been doing for the last four years.

What do you think Apple has in store for us when it comes to online music or a subscription-based service?