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Former Color employee talks about Apple's Lala deal
Aubrey Johnson is a former employee of Color, the startup recently acquired by Apple and founded by Bill Nguyen, who sold another company to Apple called Lala. Over on his personal blog, Johnson has put up a post that walks right through the story of how Apple picked up Lala, from the reasoning behind the buy to how the purchase was actually negotiated. The whole process sounds very exciting -- Nguyen's company (which had nailed down a lot of search results but was flagging in profitability at that point) got a buyout offer from Nokia that even Nguyen wasn't impressed with. But he successfully sold that offer up the line to Google, and then got Apple interested, essentially pitting Apple and Google against each other for this little company that threatened to be the musical lynchpin of either service. Finally, Nguyen sat down with Steve Jobs and other Apple higher-ups, Jobs passed a number across the table, and Nguyen nodded -- and that was it. The company sold for $80 million with about that much more in bonuses for the remaining employees. And as Johnson points out, a lot of those employees then went on to work with Nguyen again at Color, and Apple bought them again. At a price, Johnson says, that was so nice (given these employees' talent and experience) it was worth it twice anyway. That's how you do business like Apple: Pay for what you need whatever it costs, and be glad you're building the best company around. [via MacRumors]
Color for Facebook iPhone app hands-on
Color failed to live up to the massive level of hype that surrounded its launch, as CEO and Lala-cofounder Bill Nguyen will be the first to tell you. So, naturally, the company went into hiding, only to relaunch as something different entirely. The fruits of that hibernation are finally starting to surface, in the form of Color for Facebook, which is now in closed beta. As its title suggests, the app is heavily reliant on Zuckerberg's social network, playing on the site's "like" feature with a gesture of its own: the "visit." As the company puts it, "the status update needs an update." The visit is a short video clip. You broadcast a 30-second, soundless live stream from your phone that your Facebook friends watch, like and comment on. This isn't UStream here, of course: it's just a way of sharing a small slice of your daily life -- something interesting or even mundane, a way to connect with friends when a pithy status update or blurrycam still won't cut it. At least, that's Color's elevator pitch this go' round. We managed to get a sneak peek at the app, and while we're still playing with it, we do have some early impressions. So is the second time the charm for Color? Meet us past the break to find out.%Gallery-140867%
The Engadget Interview: Lala and Color founder Bill Nguyen
Bill Nguyen radiates enthusiasm. It's constant and infectious, and when he attempts to sell you on his latest project, it's hard not to get excited -- this alone seems reason enough to want the guy on your team. Nguyen also has more than his share of experience heading startups -- some have even gone so far as describing the Houston native as a "serial entrepreneur," certainly not a stretch, having founded Onebox.com and Seven Networks early in his career. It was the creation of Lala, however, that really put Nguyen on the map. The service was founded in the mid-'00s, around the concept of CD swapping, users mailing physical discs to one another in little red and white Netflix-like envelopes. The site shifted gears soon after, being reborn as a streaming service. The concept was born from Nguyen's typically utopian vision of free music streaming, in hopes of spurring purchases amongst a dedicated audience -- the actual product, not surprisingly, was far more of a compromise, limiting the streams of users who didn't already have that music stored in their PC. Read our full interview after the break.
Color abandons app independence for Facebook, hopes you'll pay someone a 'visit'
Color launched to a fair amount of fanfare back in March, and it's not surprising, really -- the company was spearheaded by Lala founder Bill Nguyen, with ten of millions in backing from some top venture capital firms. The hype surrounding the photo-sharing app didn't take long to die down, however -- over the past several months, we haven't heard much from the startup. Turns out the Color team was rethinking the project from ground up. The company used f8 this week to launch a new version of the app built entirely around Facebook. The new Color harnesses updates to the social Network's Open Graph protocol to introduce the concept of "visits," a social gesture that prompts a user to request a live video feed from a Facebook friend upon seeing an interesting photo in their feeds on the social network or in the iPhone / Android app. The brief video stream can be attended by multiple users, becoming something of a mini UStream built into Facebook. The new Color is currently in a closed testing phase, though interested parties can sign up to take part below.
Apple's iCloud music service will automatically mirror your iTunes library using 'high-quality' tracks?
There's been so much chatter about Apple iCloud that you'd think the streaming music service had already been announced and the deals inked. But it's still just a rumor until an Apple executive takes the stage and unleashes the Amazon Cloud Player and Google Music competitor in a spate of superlatives. That hasn't stopped Businessweek from stepping up with a good summary of all that is "known" thus far, while giving us some insight into the particulars of how the service will work and the motivations to make it happen. One revelation, sourced from three people in the know, claims that Apple will scan customers' iTunes libraries (hello, LaLa) and quickly mirror the contents on Apple's own servers -- no massive DSL-choking upload required. And Apple will do you the solid of "replacing" any low bitrate tracks with the "high-quality" versions it stores in its fully licensed music locker for streaming to your connected devices. Of course, this value-add won't come free and will certainly require a subscription fee. The cost to the consumer, though, is still very much unclear as is the service's integration with Apple's $99 per year MobileMe sham. And you know those rumors about MobileMe being offered as a free service? We wouldn't be surprised if it stays at $99 with iCloud being announced as a "free" feature update; aka, an $8.25 per month music subscription that also provides web access to your synced bookmarks, contacts, email, and calendar. Regardless, it's this subscription model that has the major labels so enthusiastic as it will finally allow them to extort fees for all that pirated audio you may have stumbled upon since Napster was loosed on an unprepared music industry a decade ago. All signs point to WWDC for this to get official but we're sure to hear more -- much more -- before the event kicks off on June 6th.
Apple's cloud music service ready to rock and roll (Updated)
A report from AllThingsD suggests Apple has already inked deals with two of the four major record labels for its upcoming streaming music service. Apple's VP of Internet Services, Eddy Cue, is supposedly traveling to New York to complete negotiations with the remaining two music labels as early as Friday (today). This report contradicts an earlier report from Reuters which claims Apple has not yet signed any licensing agreements. Unlike Amazon's cloud music service, which launched without signing a single licensing agreement, Apple may have the blessing of the top recording companies, such as Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony and EMI. Industry insiders claim these agreements will let Apple stream higher quality music tracks, offer an improved user interface and incorporate other features that would not be available to Amazon's Cloud Player service. Industry executives that spoke to AllThingsD confirmed the music service would let iTunes users store their library in the cloud and access it from a variety of devices. Tracks purchased from iTunes as well as tracks stored on the user's hard drive could be added to this online digital locker. No word on when the streaming service will launch, but Apple is reportedly working quickly to tie up all the loose ends. Update: CNET is reporting that Apple has signed a deal with Warner Music Group to offer its music catalog on Apple's rumored streaming music service.
Former Lala CEO says Apple bought them 'for the people'
Lala's Bill Ngyuen had a short video interview with Fortune, and in it Nguyen says that Apple picked up his company specifically "for the people," not for the streaming cloud music service or any of Lala's other assets. Fortune confronts him on the idea of Apple running its own cloud music service (as has been rumored for a while), and Nguyen suggests that instead of building its own service, Apple's actually provided the hardware and software platforms to let any number of companies, from Pandora to Netflix, do what Lala did and provide content over the air to whatever devices people happen to use. That's an interesting take for sure -- from Nguyen's perspective, it sounds like Apple is already doing what it wants to do with Lala, which is just use its employees' knowledge of how services like this work to provide help for other companies on the App Store. We've all expected Apple to run a streaming service of its own, but maybe it just wants to make things easier for other companies to jump in and provide content. Who knows what we'll see with that data center in North Carolina.
The iPhone nano to forgo local storage? Common sense says 'no'
Well, MWC is in full swing, where folks like LG, Samsung, Sony, and Nokia are pouring their souls out in front of us in device form. So, naturally, the rumors are swirling about... the iPhone nano. In a followup to the Wall Street Journal's big story, Cult of Mac is claiming some additional inside info from a source with a "great track record." The main idea is that the iPhone nano would rely on the cloud to such an extent that the device wouldn't really have any local storage to speak of, outside of a streaming buffer. This would of course go hand in hand with a MobileMe / Lala-powered streaming music service, and result in significant component cost savings (flash memory is still pretty spendy). While this sounds like a beautiful dream, it doesn't make much sense in 2011. Streaming all your music and other media over a capped 3G connection doesn't sound very consumer-friendly, and there are still plenty of situations where having a nice offline stash of music is a lifesaver. But there's a bigger problem: where do you put your apps without local storage? Android's historic shortage of app storage really bit it in the ass, and we doubt Apple wants to go down that route. Sure, we can see a 4GB or so ultracheap device, with a heavy reliance on streaming media (many people get most of their music from Pandora these days, anyways), but a memory-free iPhone just doesn't sound feasible at this point in time.
Warner Music Group executive joins Apple
Apple has hired Elliott Peters, a senior vice president and head of digital legal affairs at Warner Music Group, as the "...corporate attorney director for iTunes Europe and Internet services, based in Luxembourg, where he will manage the European legal team for iTunes and MobileMe services," according to a WMG internal memo obtained by Billboard. The memo, sent by Paul Robinson, WMG General Counsel, states that "...Elliott [Peters] has had a hand in almost every major WMG digital deal" since becoming the company's "first digital lawyer" in 2003, though Peters has been with WMG since 2000. With Peters' reported experience, and we can only assume, strong connections and relations with the major music label players, it's not too far a stretch of the imagination to suggest that he will be a key asset to Apple in the love-hate relationship that seems to exists between Apple and the major record companies and labels. One of the first things that comes to mind is the supposed cloud-based iTunes, which has been steadily rumored for quite some time now. Could Peters be set to play a key role in helping Apple get a subscription-based, music streaming service off the ground? Regardless, Peters is due to start working for Apple next month. For the full memo, click here. [via MacDailyNews]
Spotify denies talks with Apple
Despite rumors to the contrary, UK-based Spotify denies being in talks with Apple over a possible acquisition. In an interview with CNET, Spotify representative Jim Butcher said that is company has "...absolutely no intention" of selling to Apple or anyone for that matter. That takes care of that. Spotify lets users stream music to their computers and mobile devices, and many believe it could be in competition with Apple's future plans. You'll remember that Apple purchased streaming service Lala not so long ago. Plus, they've got that big old data center just itching to get rolling in North Carolina. Many believe that those are the ingredients to a music streaming service, though that's only a rumor at this point. If it does come to fruition, it looks like Spotify's technologies won't be included.
Rumor: Apple looking at buying Spotify... to incorporate it or close it?
Fans of streaming music service Spotify might not want to read this story. The last time Apple bought such a company, it lived on for about six months before being unceremoniously shuttered. Hopefully if a rumored buyout of Spotify does go through, the service will face a happier outcome than Lala did earlier this year. The rumor of early stage talks between Apple and Spotify comes via Techcrunch, so it's probably worth grabbing a big hunk of salt to go with it. According to Michael Arrington's source, Google nearly bought the music streaming service last year for US$1 billion, but the parties couldn't come to terms on grandfathering the existing licensing deals with the music labels. There have been rumors that Apple would add a music subscription service to iTunes for several years, and the imminent launch of the company's North Carolina data center have accelerated those rumors. Previously Lala was expected to be the basis of a subscription plan, but that has gone nowhere yet. Apple and Spotify apparently aren't even at the stage of talking price or terms yet, so this may not go anywhere... assuming that they are even actually talking. [via Electronista]
Apple slyly enables background iDisk music streaming in iOS 4
Well, would you look at that? The v1.2 update to MobileMe iDisk that Apple pushed out last month has a secret -- er, did have a secret. One of the concealed new features of the app is background streaming, or as Apple puts it, the ability to "play audio from your iDisk while using another app." For starters, it's pretty fantastic just to have this functionality in-hand for your own garage jams, but what's more is that any licensed music on your iDisk still streams perfectly fine. Only time will tell if any record labels (or that mean, mean RIAA) step forward with a grievance, but this could very well be the beginning of iTunes in the cloud. Or a reason for buying Lala. Or a mysterious combination of the two.
Cloud-based iTunes will be "modest in scope"
We've heard a lot of rumors about a cloud-based iTunes service, and apparently Apple is working on exactly that, but the company has reportedly told a few music label executives that any service that debuts will be only "modest in scope." CNET says that Apple's strategy isn't exactly clear -- apparently Apple doesn't have the agreements it needs with music companies to actually distribute music from the cloud, but Apple has instead put streaming service Lala (which it acquired late last year) to work on video streaming, not music. Of course, this is all second- and third-hand, and Apple has yet to officially comment on the matter, but it sounds like Apple is working on something more like YouTube or Hulu than a music streaming service. The cloud-based deal would consist of "digital shelves," where users could store videos or other media, rather than a full music library. Interesting. There's no question that a cloud-based music database would be extremely popular, and indeed Google is already working on just that, supposedly. Engadget notes that the iPhone 4 launched with the same memory capacities as the 3GS -- perhaps memory isn't such an issue when you can store your movies in the cloud? It seems like Apple's past relationships with the record companies are making the road a little bumpy, so the first official word we see of the iTunes cloud may have nothing to do with distributed music whatsoever. [via TheMacObserver]
Apple's Lala music team working on video streaming service for 2010 launch?
When Apple acquired Lala, the obvious use for all that local scanning and internet streaming technology would have been to serve up our hard-drive-based iTunes music libraries from the cloud. Here we are though, eight months later, and the only significant impact from the acquisition was the closure of the Lala music service. And it doesn't look like that will change anytime soon. According to an investigative piece by CNET, Apple is telling the big-four music execs that it won't be offering any significant cloud-based music offerings within the next few months. In fact, CNET's sources claim that Apple still hasn't obtained the licenses required to store and distribute music via a cloud-based service. So what's Apple doing with all that Lala talent then? According to CNET, the team has been working on an "undisclosed video feature" instead of music. Additional sources at the major film studios claim that Apple plans to create "digital shelves" this year letting iTunes users store movies and other media on Apple's servers. Hmm, does that sound like Keychest to you? Naturally, all of this makes sense in light of Apple's plan to open a 500,000 square foot data center (pictured above) in North Carolina later this year at a cost of $1 billion. What better facility to serve up 99 cent streaming TV rentals to a completely overhauled Apple TV in the home, and highly mobile iPad, iPod touch, and iPhone devices on the go. Anecdotally, it's not like Apple's showing too much concern with storage limits on its iOS devices -- the iPhone 4 just launched in the same 16GB and 32GB offerings as the 3GS instead of the typical doubling of flash storage we've come to expect from new iPhone iterations. So really, the question isn't if, it's just a matter of when. Original image courtesy of Cult of Mac
Rumor: iTunes still heading to the clouds
We didn't get that cloud-based iTunes at the last keynote, but the project (and the rumor) isn't dead yet. Boy Genius says "one of our reliable Apple sources" is confirming that iTunes in the cloud is still being developed -- the capability discussed would allow streaming of music and movies both from Apple's servers and between home computers, as well as wireless syncing with whatever iDevices you've got laying around, sending apps, contacts, and videos and photos wirelessly back to your Mac. That all sounds good (and fits with Apple's purchase of Lala a while back), but when? No answer yet. But the source does say that this fall will bring "two new devices with camera/camcorder capabilities." Now we're talking -- if Apple updates the iPod touch and the iPod nano with the same camera system now found in the iPhone 4, it would make a lot of sense to update iTunes and premiere a cloud-based service then as well. As is usually the case, we'll just have to wait and see. But good to know iTunes still has a chance of getting partly cloudy.
RIP Lala, we hardly knew ye
There was a time, once, when you could quickly and easily rip all of your music to the internet, where it would be aggregated and streamed back to you wherever and whenever you were. That time was 1997, and the site was MP3.com. Legal disputes saw it only lasting for a few years before being absorbed by the might of the record labels, but in the decade to come many tried to fill its shoes. One of the best was Lala, a site that embraced the cloud and enabled streaming albums if you could prove that you had physical copies, but then went further by letting you buy online access to other albums for just a buck or two. (You could also buy MP3 versions at prices competitive to iTunes and amazonmp3.com.) You could also stream any album in the site's massive collection in its entirety once for free, which, for many of the products being produced by those major record labels, was more than enough. Now, it's gone. We knew this was coming, a result of Apple's purchase of the site, but that doesn't make it any easier to swallow. The site was doing great things and seemed to be only a few mobile apps away from being even greater. Now those apps won't happen. The service will surely be reborn in a year or two as part of some cloud-friendly iTunes, but then it's doubtful that Lala will hum its melody to any device not sporting an apple embossed on the back. That leaves non iOwners with alternatives like MP3tunes.com and Catch Media, neither as polished nor as broad, and hopes that Google Audio delivers on its promise. Until then, we'll be remembering the better times.
Switched On: Thunder in the cloud
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. With each passing day it becomes less of an insult to say someone's head is in the clouds, as more and more people begin to outright rely on web sites and applications like Facebook, Google Docs, Flickr, Farmville, YouTube and Hulu. Among these popular services are Slacker and Pandora, two internet radio services that have grown tremendously since becoming available as smartphone apps, and which have recently completed the three-screen trifecta by being offered on connected televisions. These services have always had plenty of online competition, including simulcast internet radio stations, streamed Sirius XM, and Rhapsody. But it appears as though the landscape of Internet music services in the US is preparing to accommodate two more game-changing newcomers from profoundly different backgrounds. The first is a startup from Europe called Spotify, which has been winning fans across the continent in the five countries in which it is offered. Spotify's Open service represents something of a holy grail for on-demand music from the cloud: you can play any song in its catalog as often as you like for up to 20 hours per month for free, and share songs with your friends. The service gets high marks for its responsiveness. Becoming a premium Spotify member essentially turns the service into something more akin to Rhapsody, with no ads, better audio quality, and offline listening. Spotify has begun offering a private preview of its U.S. service to a lucky few, and is expected to be rolling out more broadly this year.
Rumor: iTunes online music streaming to debut at WWDC
Since Apple acquired Lala back in December, we've wondered what its developers would do with their new purchase. Rumors suggest we'll find out in a few weeks at WWDC. Macsimum news is reporting that a live streaming version of iTunes will debut at the conference. Some have speculated that iTunes will move to a subscription model, but others don't see it that way. Michael Robertson, former CEO of mp3.com, believes that Apple will create an "online locker" of your iTunes purchases. Once you buy a song or show or movie, it's added to your online library for you to stream at will. That would be a great solution for users who currently have several space-hogging videos in their purchase history. Perhaps that's what the North Carolina facility is for. Personally, I'd welcome such a service with open arms. Even now, I play "video shuffle" with my iDevices, moving TV shows and movies back and forth as room and my interests change. How nice would it be to pull up any episode of BSG on any approved device without having to make room for it first? Very nice indeed.
Bye-bye, Lala: Apple-owned streaming service to shut down
It's a long-familiar story: innovative start-up gains traction, gets major search deal, earns attention from bigger companies, is gobbled up... and then takes down the primary service that got it so much buzz in the first place. Google acquisitions Etherpad and Jotspot, welcome your new club member from the Apple side: Lala is shutting down its streaming and music purchase operation on May 31. Lala's site notes that users "will be able to access and play all music in your Lala collection through May 31, 2010. Any mp3 songs purchased and downloaded from Lala will continue to play as part of your local music library. You can continue to purchase mp3 songs through May 31st using your wallet balance or other payment methods." No new purchases can be made at this point and the service is no longer accepting signups. Outstanding credit balances on the site will be transferred to iTunes store credit, and loyal users are due a bonus: "In appreciation of your support, you will receive a credit in the amount of your Lala web song purchases for use on Apple's iTunes Store." How thoughtful. As we bid farewell to the Lala of yesterday, what's coming for the streaming-enabled iTunes of tomorrow? Check out our past Lala posts for the rest of the story. Thanks to everyone who sent this in. [H/T to Ars Technica]
Lala closing on May 31st, web songs and unused credit will head to iTunes
Can't say we're too surprised -- after all, it does somewhat compete with new management -- but still, we're quite sad to see that as of May 31st, Lala is closing its music-streaming doors to the world, and no new users will be accepted. Existing users, however, can take solace in some pretty nice parting gifts. According to the site, all money spent purchasing web songs -- soon to be rendered null and void by a loss of service -- will convert to iTunes credit. Ditto for wallet balances and unredeemed gift cards, although with those you can get a refund via check, if you choose to. As for the future of its staff, well, we're still waiting to see all the fruits of Apple's acquisition. In the meantime, crank your speakers, raise them high over your head, and let's make this month count. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
