Stating what's pretty close to the obvious, the New York Times reports the teams at Apple and Beats are working on a digital music service to directly compete with Spotify, one year after the Cupertino-based company paid $3 billion for the headphone maker. It won't bring lower prices than its competitors, the publication says, and is currently being planned for launch this year.
Following a report last month, Japan-based blog Macotakara was able to snag a look at the kit Apple Store employees will use to allow customers to try-on in-ear headphones before making a purchase.
The urBeats, Beats Tour, and PowerBeats 2 Wireless, all made by the Apple-owned Beats Electronics, and the RHA MA450i, JayBird BlueBuds X, and the Bose QC20, are seen in the kit that Apple Store employees will use to help present to customers.
Apple doesn't just want to compete in the music business, it wants to be the music business, according to a new report from Billboard. Citing sources with knowledge of the matter, the outlet has shed some light on the company's ambitious plans for the record industry.
Beats co-founder and Apple executive Jimmy Iovine has apparently been holding secret meetings with senior executives from many record labels in recent weeks. The discussions are of course protected by non-disclosure agreements, but details are beginning to trickle out.
Back in September, Re/code learned that Apple was looking to unveil a reworked, re-branded Beats Music service in early February of this year, possibly even in time for the Grammy Awards.
Now 9to5Mac's Mark Gurman casts new light on Apple's plans for Beats Music, revealing in his Wednesday morning report that a yet-to-be-named music service will be paid for, entirely Apple-designed and based on Beats’ technologies and music content.
Monster, who helped create the original Beats headphones in 2007, is suing Apple's Beats Electronics in a San Mateo County Superior Court, USA Today first reported on Tuesday.
The suit, filed on Tuesday and discussed by Monster CEO Noel Lee at CES 2015, says that the Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre concealed the role of Monster and Lee in designing and engineering the headphone line, as well as educating them about engineering, manufacturing, distributing, and selling the headphones that Monster and Lee invented.
Apple's Beats Music, with Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre at the helm, is looking to form partnerships with artists for exclusive releases, mirroring success iTunes has had in the past, reports New York Post.
Specific artists haven't been named, however Beats Music has strong partnerships with artists already, from its promotion and endorsements of Beats headphones. Nicki Minaj frequently stars with Beats products in her music videos. Will.i.am, Pharrell, Kanye West and Gwen Stefani are said to be friends of Iovine and Beats lovers.
Although this has been running for a couple days now, it's worth noting that Apple-owned Beats is running a nice holiday promotion that offers discounts on select headphones and speakers and free next-day shipping on all in-stock items at the Apple Online Store.
As Bryan Wolfe of AppAdvice writes, the special promotion offers the Solo2 headsets for $179.95 instead of the regular $199.95 price point. As for the latest Studio Wireless headsets, they are available for $341.95, normally a $379.95 value.
Apple this morning kicked off its Black Friday sale with $25-$100 (PRODUCT)RED iTunes Gift Cards on qualifying Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV and Beats by Dr. Dre purchases. Once your iTunes Gift Card has been redeemed, you can use your iTunes credit toward any purchase on the iTunes Store, including media and apps.
In addition to donating the proceeds from (RED) apps to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS until December 7, Apple will also automatically donate a portion of retail sales to the Global Fund to support the fight against AIDS.
In addition to a new iPhone 6 television commercial featuring Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon, Justin Timberlake and voice messaging in iOS 8's Messages app, Apple and Beats (which got snapped up by the iPhone maker for $3 billion earlier this year) kicked off a new #SoloSelfie thingy.
In a nutshell, it's a campaign that promotes the Solo2, ”the world’s best-selling headphone.” Like other Beats campaigns, #SoloSelfie includes more than a dozen celebrities including Kendall, Kylie Jenner, Nicki Minaj, Kenan Thompson and a bunch more who can be seen snapping selfies while wearing the high-end headphones.
Amazon joined Walmart and others in launching its Black Friday sale early today. The online retailer will be discounting a number of products over the next several days in a mix of limited-time deals, pre-Black Friday, Black Friday and Cyber Monday offerings.
Among the discounts we're seeing on Amazon.com right now include select Beats headphones, which are being discounted by as much as $80 depending on the model, various iOS-connected wearables, and more. We're even seeing some Apple products on sale.
As Apple continues to migrate Beats Music to iTunes servers ahead of a major service overhaul, The Financial Times newspaper is reporting that the iPhone maker is looking to bundle the subscription music service into its iOS mobile operating system “early next year”.
If true, Spotify will have plenty to worry about because Beats Music would become instantly available on hundreds of millions of iPhones and iPads without requiring a download.
According to a leaked internal notice, Apple Store Genius Bars are going to begin providing after-purchase support of Beats hardware next week. The screenshot was posted by technology website TechnoBuffalo, which said that it was sent in by an anonymous source.
Given the minimal context, it's impossible to tell if the document is legitimate or not, but it does corroborate a report from October along the same lines. Coincidentally, that report also featured a screenshot of an internal memo sent out to Apple service providers.