Apple to Offer Streaming with iCloud

Last week it came to light that Apple will be offering music streaming as soon as they debut the iTunes Match service (part of iCloud) after all. When Apple announced its iCloud service at the WWDC in June, streaming was clearly in the future plans, but it was not originally going to be available at the launch. Instead, the iCloud service was originally supposed to be just about cloud-based storage and cloud syncing. Later, streaming would be added to the service.

But last week developers working with the APIs for the service discovered that iCloud will have streaming music. Users who pay $24.99/year for the iTunes Match service will be able to stream their music to any Mac, PC or iOS device. Paidcontent.org tips us off that it’s a different kind of streaming; users will download and stream simultaneously.

Did Apple plan to spring this surprise on everyone all along, or did they decide to change plans only recently? Some have speculated that the Capitol Records v. Mp3tunes decision might have emboldened Apple to roll out streaming right away.