Steve Jobs sees deal with The Beatles down the road

Despite the lack of a deal announced with The Beatles to bring the Fab Four's music online yesterday, Steve Jobs has reported that he sees the possibility within a half-year's grasp. The Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) chief has been working with The Beatles own Apple Corps Ltd. (administered by EMI Group PLC) to make that a possibility, even though his own iTunes Store won't be the exclusive retailer. Maybe now we can put off all the rumor talk until sometime next Spring, although that seems unlikely.

I blog on this rumor on BloggingStocks routinely, mostly because it interests me, but also because The Beatles are one of the biggest music groups still not in the digital music realm. Many of their contemporaries and followers are out there, and now three of the four member's solo catalogs are available. Any hope for a deal in that six months might hinge on whether the entire remastered George Harrison catalog is introduced to digital retailers. After June's release of the Traveling Wilburys collection and its major success, Harrison's may be the one catalog that makes it online before The Beatles' does.

In either case, for the millionth time I hope the rumoring stops about The Beatles coming online (in time for the Holiday season especially) before the close of 2007. Of course, in line with yesterday's press conference and The Beatles final conference in 1970, the beat will likely keep going on, and on until well after The Beatles are in iTunes and other digital retailers. Meanwhile Apple stocks closed lower than they did yesterday, falling $1.75 to $135.01 in today's trading.