Apple to close Lala music service

Could Apple be about to unveil a cloud-based iTunes service?

Apple has announced that it is to close Lala, its recently purchased online music service.

A post on the Lala website simply reads, “Lala is shutting down. The Lala service will be shut down on May 31st, 2010. Unfortunately, we are no longer accepting new users.”

The news comes just weeks ahead of the iPhone maker's annual developers conference, which kicks off on June 7, where the company is expected to unveil the new iPhone.

The closure of Lala has fuelled speculation Apple will soon announce or unveil a cloud-based version of iTunes, which would do away with the need to download songs.

"Whatever they bought Lala for, it is likely to be integrated into iTunes," said technology consultant Michael Gartenberg. "It's no surprise they're shutting this down."