APPLE GETS THE BEATLES, WILL STREAMING FOLLOW?

Tomorrow is the day Beatles fans have been waiting for.

It may also be the day Apple announces its brand-new streaming subscription service.

With Internet reports insisting tomorrow’s announcement will make the Fab Four’s music available digitally for the first time on iTunes, there are also conflicting reports that Apple will introduce a new streaming subscription service.

MediaMemo’s Peter Kafka suggests it is “unlikely” that either music streaming or a subscription service will be on the agenda, largely because industry sources insist Apple Apple does not have the explicit rights to offer one, or to allow customers the ability to stream their libraries to connected devices.

But that hasn't stopped speculation that Apple tomorrow could unveil a new cloud-based service that would allow users to access their content from an Internet-connected device.

Some have also dug up evidence of streaming support in the newly released iTunes 10.1. A new, previously unseen reference to "iTunes Live Stream URL" was discovered this week within the newly updated software, according to the French blog Consomac.

Apple trademarked the brand "iTunes Live," leading to speculation it would launch a live streaming service, based on its Lala acquisition.

AppleInsider first noted that Apple had begun working to add a hosted, steaming music, movies and TV service to iTunes back in February 2009, under the name iTunes Replay.

The Beatles reports were given further credence by the fact the hands on the four clocks on the main page of Apple.com, set at N.Y., L.A., London and Tokyo times, are pointed in the same direction as the Fab Four on the cover of the Help! album, lending further credence to reports that tomorrow’s announcement will be about their music being made available on iTunes.