Apple (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AAPL]]) is in talks to acquire Lala, a Palo Alto, CA-based online music service backed by Bellevue, WA-based Ignition Partners and Boston-based Bain Capital Ventures, according to Bloomberg and CNET, which each cite anonymous sources. No financial terms were reported, and Ignition has declined to comment. Lala’s service is different from Apple’s iTunes in that its music is stored on Internet servers rather than downloaded to a personal computer. The company has raised about $35 million since 2005, according to CrunchBase.
Author: Gregory T. Huang
Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003.
Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
View all posts by Gregory T. Huang