Apple

Apple paid $500M for Beats Music, $2.5B for Beats hardware (and other tidbits)

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 29, 2014

According to a breakdown of Apple's $3 billion Beats buy published Thursday by The Wall Street Journal, the company basically paid less than $500 million for the Beats Music subscription service and about $2.5 billion for Beats Electronics LCC, which makes the popular Beats headphones, speakers and audio software (which some dismiss as a software equalizer that boosts the bass).

The report alleges that the acquisition - the most expensive in Apple's history - gives the Cupertino firm Beats' brand power and star leadership. The story downplays the importance of the generic Beats Music streaming service to the overall deal...

Rumored iOS 8 split-screen feature won’t be ready for WWDC

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 1, 2018

Earlier this month, a report surfaced that Apple was working on a new feature in iOS 8 involving split-screen multitasking. Designed specifically for the larger iPad, the addition reportedly allows two apps to run side-by-side while in landscape mode.

Word of the feature spread quickly through the tech world, and many were hoping that Apple would demo it during its WWDC keynote next week. But don't get your hopes up, a new report says that it won't be ready for preview in time for the conference...

Rdio gains push notifications

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2018

Rdio has updated its free radio streaming app for the iPhone and iPad with some bug fixes and a brand new, albeit long overdue, feature: push notifications. That's right, you can now elect to received push alerts for various social activities going on in your stream.

The Internet radio app offers a catalog of 25 million songs and now you can get notified when someone shares a song with you, follows you on the service, subscribes to your playlist and more.

Push alerts settings are granular so you can choose to receive alerts for specific events and mute alerts for the others. For example, you could tell Rdio to send notifications to your device only for new songs shared with you...

Popular PlayStation RPG Dragon Quest VIII now available for iPhone and iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 29, 2014

Another day, another role-playing game (RPG) makes its way into Apple's App Store. If Mika Mobile's action-based RPG Battleheart Legacy did not impress you and you've been craving for a Japanese-styled RPG game, consider giving the eighth installment in the legendary Dragon Quest series a shot. Originally released for the PlayStation 2 in 2004, Dragon Quest VIII has since sold an astounding 4.9 million units worldwide.

And now, for the first time ever it's available on the iOS platform. The first title in the series to offer full 3D graphics, the iOS port of Dragon Quest VIII sports vast landscape filled with non-playable characters who wonder around big cities.

There are dungeons with hidden treasure, typical turn-based 3D battles, unique monsters, wizards, dragons, epic boss fights and more - in all, everything you'd expect from an RPG made in Japan.

Note that Dragon Quest VIII comes at a rather steep price of $19.99 for the universal iPhone and iPad app, but at least it won't ask for cash - there are no In-App Purchases whatsoever...

Sunrise Calendar is now available everywhere, including on Android and the web

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2018

Sunrise Calendar, a free iOS calendar alternative, on Thursday rolled out to Android smartphones, now available free of charge in Google's Play Store. In addition, the software has been released on desktop, too, in the form of a web app available in the Chrome Web Store.

And ff you prefer Apple's Safari over Google's Chrome browser, Sunrise Calendar can now be enjoyed as a regular web app, too, though you'll lose Chrome-specific functionality such as the offline mode. With that in mind, the app is now available pretty much everywhere: across the iPhone, iPad and Android devices and on the web...

Beats releases improved Solo2 on-ear headphones

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

Less than 24 hours into Apple's announcement that it is buying Beats for $3 billion, Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre's startup has announced a refreshed version of its best-selling headphones model, the Solo². Of course, this has nothing to do with Apple as the accessory has been in the making for months.

The new on-ear headphones offer a more dynamic, wider range of sound and a clarity that will "bring you closer to what the artist intended". The design has been revised for a better custom-fit feeling...

Eddy Cue: today’s TV experience sucks

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

Last night, Apple’s Eddy Cue (and Jimmy Iovine) joined Recode's Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher on stage at the Code Conference to discuss a wide range of topics. The focus was obviously on the recently announced Beats acquisition, but as you can imagine, other interesting stuff came up as well.

One of the more noteworthy bits came after Cue was questioned on the long-rumored Apple TV update. Mossberg said it's clear Apple has been wanting to do a big TV project for a long time, and Tim Cook has even alluded to it on a few occasions, but we haven't seen anything yet. Here's Cue's response...

Eddy Cue: Apple’s best product pipeline in 25 years coming later this year

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 2, 2017

'Has Apple lost its ability to innovate?' has become a common theme among critics in recent years, who note that the company hasn't released a groundbreaking new product since the iPad in 2010. And going halfway through 2014 without mention of a new gadget hasn't helped its cause.

But according to Apple's SVP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue, that's about to change. The executive sat down with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at the Code Conference last night to talk about the recent high-profile Beats acquisition, and set major expectations for the fall...

Apple acquires Beats for $3 billion

Joe Rossignol ∙ May 28, 2014

After weeks of speculation, Apple confirmed just moments ago that it has reached a deal to acquire Beats Electronics and Beats Music for $3 billion. Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre will be joining Apple, the company announced. Beats is best known for its popular lineup of headphones, speakers and audio software, and in January launched a new streaming music service called Beats Music in partnership with AT&T.

This marks the largest acquisition that Apple has ever made, divided into a purchase price of $2.6 billion and approximately $400 million that will vest over time. But it comes at a pivotal time for Apple, as iTunes music sales decline in light of the rising popularity of streaming music services. Apple will now operate its own streaming music service in Beats Music, going head on against competitors like Spotify and Pandora…

Tim Cook interviews offer more details on Beats acquisition

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 16, 2016

In addition to giving comments for the press release and writing a memo to employees, Tim Cook apparently invited a handful of high profile journalists to Apple's Cupertino headquarters today to talk about the just-announced Beats acquisition.

Cook spoke with reporters from the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Financial Times and other publications this afternoon on the Beats buyout. And we've rounded up some of the more interesting tidbits from each interview, below...

Pocket adds new features, introduces Premium tier

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Pocket (formerly Read It Later), is a popular read-later service that lets you save content you don't have the time to read right now. You can then enjoy saved items later on all your mobile/desktop devices and in the web UI.

Saved stories are stripped of all unnecessary graphics, ads and other bells and whistles that clutter online articles. Folks who research a lot like bloggers tend to use read-later services as their central repository of URLs.

For example, I use Pocket to keep stories containing snippets of information that I may or may not use in my future writing. There's just one tiny problem: a saved URL is no good if an article gets deleted on the web. Enter Pocket Premium, your new subscription Pocket library that keeps a permanent copy of anything you save to it...

iTunes Radio set to stream a bunch of ESPN and NPR stations

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Apple sure seems adamant to bolster up its music ambitions. Shortly after confirming that it's purchasing Beats Electronics and Beats Music in a transaction valued at $3 billion - by far the largest acquisition in company history since the 1997 NeXT deal, we're now hearing some encouraging news concerning iTunes Radio, its Internet radio service.

Specifically, iTunes Radio has now started streaming content from ESPN, including the World Cup stream. Moreover, Apple will be adding a bunch of local NPR stations to the service soon...