iCloud Could Take Years to Cover Europe

Apple’s iCloud service will roll out in the US later this year, but its reach across the Atlantic could take some time, due to the usual Gordian Knot of licensing restrictions. After all, it took years for the iTunes music store to be licensed across all countries, so there’s no reason to expect that the negotiations and clearances will happen much faster this time.

The US is by far the biggest music market in the world and is, therefore, the most important “get” for any of the new cloud services. But Apple likes being the first mega-company to be fully licensed by all the major labels. Negotiations are under way in other countries, with the UK and the Japan as important next steps due to their relative size in the international music market. UK observers don’t expect anything to develop there until at least 2012.