Apple misses iTunes Match launch date - what happened?

Apple has missed its own deadline to launch iTunes Match, a service that lets users store their entire music library in the cloud, or the iCloud, for access through any iOS device or computer.

Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the iPhone 4S (see our iPhone 4S review) in early October, and iOS 5 and iCloud went live several days later. The final piece of that puzzle, iTunes Match, was expected to launch at the end of October for $24.99 per year, but here we are on November 2 with no iTunes Match in sight.

With iTunes Match, users can store their entire music library in the cloud, or iCloud, for on-the-go access to your music from any iOS device or computer.

A portion of iTunes in the Cloud went live in June during Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), while a developer version of iTunes Match was released in late August; Apple even reportedly wiped out developers' Match libraries, fueling speculation that a launch was imminent.

Apple typically releases software updates on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so perhaps Cook miscounted his days? Optimistically?

Meanwhile, Google is reportedly still trying to put together an MP3 music store that connects to Google Music beta, its own cloud-based music storage, and Google+. However, Google still needs to secure licensing deals with the major record labels. The New York Times, which first reported the story, speculated that Google wanted to launch its own MP3 store before iTunes Match went live, but it's questionable as to whether the company will be able to finalize label deals by then.

This article, written by Sara Yin, originally appeared on PCMag.com and is republished on Gear Live with the permission of Ziff Davis, Inc.