Steve Jobs introduces a new iPod Nano on Sept. 9, 2009. Unlike previous versions of the Nano, this device lets users record personal videos. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

The other day on TechStuff Live Jonathan and I talked about Apple’s acquisition of streaming music provider Lala. As we said, lots of people are trying to figure out what’s in it for Apple, since the company hasn’t simply come out and told us all. But yesterday Brian X. Chen at Wired.com put that acquisition together with some other Apple initiatives in a post on the Gadget Lab blog, and he thinks the electronics and computer company may be making a break for the streaming video market.

One of these pieces he’s putting together in the puzzle is Apple’s construction of a 500,000-square-foot (46,452-square-meter) data center in North Carolina, work on which apparently began late this summer. In his post then, Chen said that even if Apple were investigating the option of using the new facility for cloud computing, the sheer size of the building suggested more was going on.

Now, however, it may be making more sense. Chen reminded his readers that Apple updated its iPod Nano with a video camera. Then there’s the Lala deal, which suggests that the company might be interested in streaming at least music via Web sites instead of iTunes. The last move that makes Chen say Apple may attempt a video venture is its approval of iPhone apps that deliver streaming video, which happened just this week.

Chen said that this could be a major market for Apple to enter. One analyst he quoted, James McQuivey from Forrester, said in a blog post he believes the market could really take off in the next two to three years. Apple could leverage tools it already has, such as iTunes, to allow people to share personal videos with one another and become a digital hub, McQuivey said.

An interesting thought, to say the least. The popularity of inexpensive, hand-held digital cameras such as the Flip Mino and Kodak Zi6 already suggested that Apple’s move with the Nano was a good one. But I think Chen may be on to something, though I suppose we’ll have to wait for a while to see what turns up. That’s a great big data center, isn’t it? I suppose they have something cooked up to do with all that space.

For more on some related topics, take a look at these articles:

How Cloud Computing Works
How Cloud Storage Works
How iTunes Works