iTunes 10 made its debut back in 2010, and according to 9to5Mac Apple is hard at work on the next major release of the software — and iOS 6 and iCloud support are said to be focal points. The site reports that most of the iTunes 11 development it has been privy to is focused on under-the-hood rather than cosmetic changes, but greater iCloud integration is said to be a standout feature. A dedicated iCloud control panel within iTunes will reportedly allow for direct management of iTunes in the Cloud content and device backups made to Apple's cloud service, amongst other capabilites. While such an inclusion would no doubt cause consternation amongst those that think iTunes is stretched too thin as it is, collecting iCloud management under a single roof does make sense, and the ubiquitous iTunes is obviously the company's most-likely candidate. The update will reportedly also work hand-in-hand with iOS 6, which tracks with Apple's trend of releasing new versions of its mobile OS on a yearly basis.

With regard to the iTunes Store itself, 9to5Mac also reports that a major revamp of the media and app storefronts will rollout at some point between summer and fall of this year. The team from Chomp, which Apple acquired earlier this year, is said to have been a major part of the redesign. As far as release dates, 9to5Mac states that Apple may deploy a smaller upgrade to the current version of iTunes to provide iOS 6 compatibility, opening up the possible iTunes 11 release window considerably. However, there is precedent for a September release — every major revision of iTunes since version 7 has been released then — but we'll have to wait until the software officially arrives to know for sure.