After days of speculation, it appears we may finally be able to confirm that Apple paid up big time to secure the domain iCloud.com. With Apple rumored to be planning an iTunes music streaming service of the same name, it was apparently justified for the company to cough up a reported $4.5 million - yes, $4.5 million - to lock up this prime digital real estate for the future.

On Friday, John Paczkowski of Digital Daily reported that his sources are confirming the purchase by Apple. The seller of the hot domain in question was Swedish cloud computing company Xcerion. Although sources didn't confirm the $4.5 million purchase price, it was hinted that the price may actually be that high, if not higher.

For the last three months, we've been hearing that Apple's revamp of the MobileMe platform may transform the $99 annual-subscription product into a free service. Supplemental to that - or in addition to it - could be the long-awaited "digital lockers" that will enable Apple customers or subscribers to access their digital content from remote locations. This is precisely why the nearly-universal buzz surrounding the iCloud purchase suggests that the domain name holds clues to what the new service will be called and what service it will provide.

Source: All Things Digital