• Wall Street Journal, The Big Money, Reuters, Thursday, December 10, 2009 1:19 PM

When Apple acquired music-streaming service La La Media for $85 million last week, it had nothing short of a new business model for iTunes in mind, write Ethan Smith and Yukari Iwatani Kane. Lala.com lets users buy and listen to music through a Web browser, and the new model would allow Apple to sell music through Web sites and search engines and not just at the online Apple store. But the plans are in the early stages, caution people familiar with them, and could change.

If thinking about altering a wildly successful business sounds a bit contrary to you, in "We Should All Get It Wrong Like Apple," Jonathan Weber points out that Apple does none of the things that pundits always say you should do to succeed in the Internet economy. No blogging, tweeting, Facebooking, free samples, asking for feedback or engaging with the customer base for the sages from Cupertino. Why, they even do a heck of a lot of advertising in the dead-tree mediums, as well as broadcast TV and billboards.

What lessons are to be learned? 1. It's all about good product. 2. Brand marketing still matters. 3. Real-time engagement with customers is not a required course of action.

Meanwhile, Reuters says that an Oppenheimer research note claims Apple will launch its long-rumored tablet personal computer in late March or April, with it manufacturers preparing to roll out as many as 1 million units per month.

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