“We had expected Apple to also announce a cloud-based, iTunes streaming service but we were wrong,” wrote Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster in a note to clients issued Tuesday morning. He continues:

“No iTunes Streaming Service Yet; Why We Were Wrong, And Why We Continue To Expect an iTunes Streaming Service. Apple did not announce a cloud-based iTunes streaming service today, as we were expecting. Apple is building a large data center in North Carolina that we believe could serve as the hub for a hosted iTunes streaming service. We continue to believe it is only a matter of time before Apple launches a cloud-based iTunes service. Apple could leverage its connected devices (iPhone, iPad, etc.) along with cloud-storage for streaming iTunes content. Steve Jobs has indicated that syncing is a problem for consumers and a hosted solution could solve the syncing problem. Apple has built a data center that will be completed this quarter. In July, 2010 Apple’s CFO said “North Carolina is on schedule… We expect to complete [the data center] by the end of the calendar year and begin to use it.” Additionally, in Late 2009 Apple acquired the Lala streaming music service, which we believe will eventually be incorporated into iTunes.”

As several readers have pointed out, Apple put a lot of effort into the Beatles artist’s page, which includes previews of five Apple-produced ads, presumably set for heavy rotation in the holiday shopping days ahead, a free 40-minute video, “Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964” and Apple Corps.’ “The Beatles Highlight Reel.” See here.

See also:

• Behind the Beatles-iTunes deal
• Apple starts selling Beatles songs
• One more time: The Beatles on iTunes?
• Apple’s big iTunes tease
• Beatles on iTunes still no go, says Ono