Apple's (News - Alert) highly rumored cloud-based music service may indeed become a reality…and it may already have a name.

An unidentified tipster told Gigaom's Om Malik that Apple recently purchased the domain name iCloud.com for $4.5 million from a Swedish desktop-as-a-service company called Xcerion (News - Alert). The rumor, which has yet to be confirmed by representatives from either company, is substantiated by the fact that Xcerion's storage-as-a-cloud service was recently renamed CloudMe. The Linkoping, Sweden-based company got rid of the iCloud moniker on April 5.

However, records show that the domain name iCloud.com is still technically owned by Xcerion. Typing the URL into a Web browser currently redirects users to CloudMe.com. Furthermore, a spokeswoman from Xcerion told TechCrunch a few days ago that the company changed the name of its service "to better reflect [its] new focus on files and storage."

If the report is accurate, Apple would most likely use the domain name as part of its rumored online music storage service. The California computer giant has wrapped up work on its service and is set to launch it in the near future, two people close to the situation told Reuters (News - Alert) late last week.

When launched, the new service will enable iTunes users to store their music in the cloud and access songs wherever they can find a Web connection. Apple is reportedly hoping to sign licensing deals with major music labels, but has yet to officially ink anything. Amazon launched its similar Cloud Drive service earlier this month without signing licensing deals with music labels and could face legal action, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, Google (News - Alert) is also apparently working on a cloud-based music service. The search engine recently registered several interesting music-related domain names, including GoogleBass.com, GoogleAlto.com, GoogleSoprano.com and GoogleTenor.com.  On the same day, Google picked up a few cloud-related addresses like GoogleNebula.com, GoogleThunder.com and GoogleLightning.com.

The company is also said to be working on inking agreements with record labels and music publishers, according to CNET. 

Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell