MacRumors

Apple is rumored to be purchasing Beats Electronics, with an announcement of the acquisition coming at any moment. The deal is said to include the company's headphone business, its Beats Music subscription service, and two key executives -- Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, aka Andre Young.

Several reports have suggested that Apple's major motivation behind the purchase might be the acquihire of Jimmy Iovine, who has strong ties to the music industry thanks to his role as chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M and founder of Interscope Records.

Walter Isaacson, the man behind the famous Steve Jobs biography, is also speculating that Iovine is one of the main reasons Apple has decided to purchase Beats. In a discussion with Billboard, Isaacson suggested Cook is aiming to have Iovine head up the company's content business, securing music and TV deals that will help Apple launch its much-rumored television product.

Isaacson thinks the Apple-Beats deal is not about headphones or streaming music but rather is about video. He speculates that Cook wants Iovine to run Apple's content business and help Apple launch the TV product that analysts have been gossiping about for years. The product has been held up because Apple can't get all the content owners on board.

Iovine has a long history of working with Apple to help the company sign key deals. In 2002, he helped Steve Jobs secure deals with music labels for the iTunes Store and in 2004, he helped persuade U2 to sign a deal with Apple to create the popular U2 special edition iPod.

Looking back at notes he took when writing the Jobs biography, Isaacson noted that Iovine had wanted Apple to acquire Universal Music Group back in 2003, and during that year, there were rumors suggesting Apple was in talks to buy the record company. At the time, Iovine was leading Interscope Geffen A&M, a division of Universal.

For years now, Apple has been working on signing deals with major content providers with the aim of revolutionizing the television industry, but content providers have been reluctant to commit to an agreement that could interrupt traditional revenue streams. Iovine's many connections in the music industry and his history of helping Apple win key deals could be instrumental in a wider content role with the company.

Maybe Iovine has the charisma and connections to round up the networks the way he did the music labels in 2002, although "it's a lot more complicated" this time around, says Isaacson. His track record of success in marrying content and tech gives that theory some weight.

Recent rumors have suggested that both Iovine and Dr. Dre could make their first appearances as Apple executives during the company's Worldwide Developers Conference, set to kick off on June 2.

Angela Ahrendts officially joined Apple just under three weeks ago, but the new retail chief already has a solid plan in mind for improving both the online and retail Apple Store experience for customers. In a detailed report on Ahrendts, 9to5Mac suggests the retail leader will focus on three separate areas in her efforts to revamp Apple retail: China, mobile payments, and a redesign of the "end-to-end Apple Store sales experience."

Growth in China is highly important to Ahrendts as it represents a major market where Apple hasn't managed to gain a strong foothold. As of February, Apple only had seven percent of total smartphone market share in the country, but the company has worked to secure deals with all of China's major carriers over the course of 2013, leaving it ripe for expansion. Ahrendts has plans to bolster Apple's retail presence in the country, reaching 30 stores by 2016, up from the current 10 stores.

Along with expanding Apple's footprint in China, Ahrendts is also said to be aiming for an overhaul of the end-to-end Apple Store sales experience, reimagining product discovery, customer interactions with employees, and mobile payment options, another tenet of Ahrendts' three point plan. Over-the-phone service, Personal Setup, and the company's trade-in programs may also see improvements under Ahrendts.

Ahrendts and new online stores VP Kupbens are seeking to improve mobile payments in Apple's retail stores and mobile apps for both the online and in-person purchases. Ahrendts is said to be eyeing a major focus on blurring the lines between Apple's online and physical stores in order to improve the overall experience for Apple customers.

As she settles into her role and begins enacting major changes to the retail and online sales experiences, Ahrendts has been visiting Apple stores close to Cupertino, in San Francisco and Palo Alto. Employees have described her as "honest," "warm and genuine" and "so Apple."

Ahrendts has also reportedly re-architectured Apple's in-house retail team to better suit her needs, with longtime Vice President of Retail Stores Steve Cano moving on to international sales. Wendy Beckman, head of retail in Europe, and Denny Tuza, head of retail in China, will gain new responsibilities, while Apple's VP of Apple Retail Real Estate Bob Bridger and the company's VP of Retail Operations Jim Bean will both retain their roles. Bob Kupbens, the new VP of Online Retail will handle Apple's online stores.

Back in October, when Ahrendts' hiring was first announced, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he was "thrilled" she was joining the company, emphasizing that she shared Apple's values, "focus on innovation," and the company's dedication to customer experience.

As CEO of Burberry, Ahrendts famously revamped the company's entire shopping experience, and it's likely that she will bring similar improvements to Apple customers at a time when the company is poised to launch several new major products, including the iPhone 6 and the iWatch.

Apple today is expanding its iPad trade-in program to retail stores in several European countries, including France, Germany, Spain, and the UK. As spotted by Apfelpage.de and iPhoneAddict.fr, the program allows customers to recycle older iPad models at their local Apple retail stores and provides them with credits they can use towards the purchase of new devices.

Apple launched the iPad program last month in the U.S. and Canada on Earth Day as part of a larger green initiative to help consumers recycle old iOS devices. Customers can visit Apple retail stores and trade in their iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4 and iPad mini for store credit. The newer iPad Air and Retina iPad mini are not yet eligible for redemption.

The company has not revealed how much it will pay for these recycled devices in its international stores, but the pricing likely mirrors the existing trade-in program available in the U.S., with reduced prices for older devices and those in poor physical condition. Though not confirmed, Apple also may accept broken and non-working devices for free, providing a way for customers to responsibly recycle these devices.

The iPad program is similar to an existing in-store iPhone recycling program that debuted in the U.S. last August before expanding to the UK a few months later and several more European countries and Canada last month.

Apple and Samsung may be close to reaching an agreement that would settle all patent infringement lawsuits out of court, claims Kim Yoo-chul of The Korea Times (Via Fortune). This account follows a previous report from late last week that Apple and Google/Motorola have reached an agreement to drop all ongoing litigation between the two companies.

Samsung and Apple are reportedly in the early stages of negotiation with some key details on royalty payments still under negotiation.

"Samsung has recently resumed working-level discussions with Apple and the key issue is how to dismiss all lawsuits," one source said, declining to be named.

[...]

"Some more time will be needed to fix terms of details such as royalty payments in return for using patents owned by each before reaching a full agreement."

Apple and Samsung recently faced off in a California court as part of the second US patent infringement lawsuit between the two companies. In the case that concluded earlier this month, the jury found that Samsung willfully infringed on three of the five Apple patents involved in the lawsuit and ordered the Korean company to pay Apple a sum of $119.6 million. Apple also was found guilty of infringing on one of Samsung's patents with damages totaling $158,400.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich has stated that Intel's next-generation Broadwell processors will launch during this holiday season, reports Reuters (via MacG).

"I can guarantee for holiday, and not at the last second of holiday," Krzanich said in an interview. "Back to school - that's a tight one. Back to school you have to really have it on-shelf in July, August. That's going to be tough."

Originally expected to launch in Q3 2014, Krzanich noted that new manufacturing technologies are responsible for the delays surrounding Broadwell, but maintained that Intel is now on schedule to ship its new chips to manufacturers later this year. The statement comes after a leaked Intel roadmap surfaced this past February, which appeared to show an uncertain timetable for Apple's 2014 Mac updates.

It is also possible that Intel's new Broadwell chips could be used in the rumored 12-inch MacBook Air, which may coexist alongside or replace the current MacBook Air line. However, it is uncertain which specific chips Apple would use for the new notebook, as prior reports have pointed to the machine coming out towards the end of the third quarter.

As far as a next-generation iMac goes, Apple could also choose to hold off on an update until the appropriate Broadwell chips are out. However, a report last month claimed that Intel's faster Haswell desktop CPUs could arrive in May, with Apple perhaps launching updates sooner rather than later.

Apple is also rumored to have a low-cost iMac in the works, which could utilize more cost-efficient chips. According to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the low-cost desktop computer could boost sales in critical foreign markets and increase shipments by up to 30 percent.

After Apple released OS X 10.9.3 yesterday, some users started experiencing a bug that hid their /Users folder. It appears that Apple has released a small iTunes update, numbered 11.2.1, to combat the bug. MacRumors forum member IzzyJG99 notes:

An update just popped up for me. iTunes 11.2.1 in the App Store. When it was done installing it had a little pop up about iPhoto Library. Now the User folder is showing up again.

Users can update to iTunes 11.2.1 via the updates tab in the Mac App Store or through OS X's "Software Update" drop-down menu.

Apple and Google/Motorola Mobility have agreed to a settlement and will dismiss pending patent litigation between the two companies, according to a court filing referenced by Reuters.

As part of the settlement, Apple and Google have agreed to work together "in some areas of patent reform". Apple and Google have been in patent disputes for years. This particular settlement does not include a patent cross-licensing agreement, which is sometimes included in patent settlements.

In a joint statement, the companies said the settlement does not include a cross license to their respective patents. "Apple and Google have also agreed to work together in some areas of patent reform," the statement said.

The dispute between Apple and Motorola began in 2010, with both companies accusing each other of patent infringement. Google inherited the legal issues when it purchased Motorola Mobility in 2011. There are more than a dozen different lawsuits between the two companies in various jurisdictions around the world, and this agreement is said to settle all of them.

Apple still has numerous patent lawsuits in the works against a vast array of companies, most notably Samsung. Earlier this year, Google announced it was selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for $2.91 billion.

Apple and HTC settled their patent disputes in late 2012, agreeing to a ten-year cross licensing agreement.

Apple today updated its 4K display support page following the OS X 10.9.3 update, detailing the enhancements that have been made to 4K display support.

Running OS X 10.9.3, the 2013 Mac Pro and the 2013 Retina MacBook Pro now support several new 4K displays, including the Sharp PN-K321, ASUS PQ321Q, Dell UP2414Q, Dell UP3214Q, and the Panasonic TC-L65WT600. Previously, only the Sharp and ASUS displays were officially supported.

There's a new section on display adjustments and Retina scaling, introduced to allow the resolution of 4K displays to be adjusted much like the display of the Retina MacBook Pro, improving the size and readability of text and other on-screen elements.

The revamped support page also notes that both the Mac Pro and the Retina MacBook Pro are now able to support 60 Hz 4K output for the five supported displays, using multi-stream transport, a feature previously limited to the Mac Pro. With the higher refresh rates, response times for tasks like game playing and video editing will be improved. Detailed instructions are given for enabling the option:

MacBook Pro (Retina, Late 2013) or Mac Pro (Late 2013) also support 60 Hz displays using multi-stream transport (MST). These displays need to be manually configured to use MST. Follow the steps below to use the display's built-in controls to enable this feature.

- Sharp PN-K321: Choose Menu > Setup > DisplayPort STREAM > MST > SET
- ASUS PQ321Q: Choose OSD menu > Setup > DisplayPort Stream
- Dell UP2414Q and UP3214Q: Choose Menu > Display Setting > DisplayPort 1.2 > Enable
- Panasonic TC-L65WT600: Choose Menu > Display Port Settings > Steam Setting > Auto

Your Mac will automatically detect an MST-enabled display. However, your display may require a firmware update to support 60Hz operation. Please contact your display vendor for details. If your specific DisplayPort display is not listed above, check with the display's manufacturer for compatibility information.

First released yesterday, OS X 10.9.3 with enhanced support for 4K displays can be downloaded via the software update tool in the Mac App Store.

Apple is facing a lawsuit over a long-standing issue that prevents iPhones from sending text messages to the Android phones of former iPhone users, reports Bloomberg (via BusinessInsider). Filed by a former iPhone customer, the lawsuit alleges that the user ceased getting messages from iPhone owners after she switched to a non-Apple device.

This is a problem that has afflicted many former iPhone users that switch from an iPhone to another device. After an iPhone is disabled, the users face an issue where iMessages sent from other iPhone owners are routed to a deactivated iPhone rather than being forwarded as a text message to an active phone, causing text messages to disappear.

Earlier this week, former Lifehacker editor-in-chief Adam Pash claimed that Apple is aware of the iMessage issue and unable to provide a fix. An Apple customer support representative told Pash that the iMessage bug is "a problem a lot of people are facing" and that the company's engineering team "is working on it but is apparently clueless as how to fix it."

These errors with iMessage have been a known issue since 2011, which is when the messaging service was first introduced with iOS 5. Apple advises iPhone owners to disable iMessages before deactivating their phones in order to remove the device from their system, but some users have experienced problems even after disabling iMessage.

Some users have had success calling in to Apple to have their numbers removed from the iMessage system and in 2012, TechCrunch detailed a fix involving unregistering products on a user's Support Profile, which has also worked for some people experiencing iMessage issues after switching to a non-Apple device.

Filed in San Jose California, the lawsuit is currently seeking class action status.

A model said to be an industrial prototype of the upcoming 12.9-inch "iPad Pro" has surfaced, giving a look at what the larger tablet might look like in-hand. Discovered on Chinese Twitter-like site Weibo by Nowhereelse.fr [Google Translation] the machined aluminum is said to be a reference for creating cases and other accessories.

The design of the mockup is very rudimentary and while it is said to be the iPad Pro, it is impossible to determine the exact size of the prototype from the photos. It is also not clear if this "prototype" is based on any type of legitimate specifications as Apple is said to be multiple months away from releasing a larger tablet. Along with a larger size, the model also has an Apple logo and a rear camera cutout. At 12.9-inches, the iPad Pro would be similar in size to a 13-inch MacBook Air and quite a bit larger than the existing 9.7-inch iPad Air.

Rumors have suggested the iPad Pro, if released, will adopt many of the same design elements offered in the current iPad Air and Retina iPad mini, including an ultrathin chassis and narrow side bezels. It is also rumored to include an ultra high-definition display.

Apple yesterday released OS X 10.9.3 with support for 4K displays, contact and calendar syncing improvements, and more. Many (but not all) users are, however, experiencing a bug in the update that hides the /Users folder.

The /Users folder is a top-level folder that contains the home folder and personal files for each user on a Mac. It's not clear why only some OS X users lose access to the /Users folder, but the inability to browse this folder could be problematic for some Mac owners affected by the glitch.

A range of solutions for the bug have been suggested with varying degrees of complexity, with perhaps the simplest noted by Kirk McElhearn and Chris Breen of Macworld:

Launch Terminal (/Applications/Utilities), enter "sudo chflags nohidden /Users", and press the Return key. You’ll be prompted for your user password. Enter it, press Return again, and the Users folder will be visible as it once was.

This solution is not, however, a permanent one, as the issue will reappear if the machine is restarted and the fix will need to be applied again.

Breen goes on to outline a more permanent solution that involves creating an AppleScript for running the Terminal command and saving it as an application to run at login.

Another recommendation comes from The Loop's Dave Mark, who suggests creating an alias for the folder that will remain accessible even with the folder itself hidden.

For a more permanent solution, [after manually navigating to the hidden folder] control-click on the /Users folder and select Make Alias from the contextual menu that appears. Though the /Users folder will become hidden again when you close your Finder window, the alias will stick around.

For many users, the bug will not have a significant impact on their Mac usage, as they can still access their own home folders through shortcuts in the Finder sidebar. Consequently, some users who are not inconvenienced by the bug may prefer to simply wait for Apple to address it in a future update.

Update 10:30 AM PT: As noted by MacObserver, the issue may be caused by a combination of iTunes 11.2 and Find My Mac rather than OS X 10.9.3. The site tested each update released yesterday and found the /Users and /Users/Shared folders only disappeared after iTunes 11.2 was installed on a Mac with Find My Mac enabled.

Pioneer announced earlier this year that its latest aftermarket NEX infotainment systems will be compatible with CarPlay, allowing customers to install the Apple technology in an existing automobile. The hardware requires only a firmware update that is expected to be available in "a few weeks", putting the company on or even slightly ahead of its original "early summer" schedule.

Pioneer was in San Francisco this week showcasing the technology, which provides drivers with an integrated experience for placing phone calls, using maps, listening to music and messaging via Siri. As noted by Macworld, demo cars included the high-end $1400 Pioneer AVH-8000NEX system, which contains an in-dash capacitive touchscreen that allows the driver to tap on the infotainment screen to interact with the CarPlay system. CarPlay also supports hands-free operation using Siri to control many of the available functions.

Macworld did note some issues with Siri's ability to handle background noise in the car, but Pioneer's Ted Cardenas pointed out that with Siri's ability to learn and improve over time, those background noises will become less of a distraction as Siri learns to pick out the driver's voice.

Pioneer is one of the first automobile electronics companies to offer an aftermarket CarPlay system to customers who don't want to purchase a new car in order to experience the feature. Alpine also announced its own series of aftermarket CarPlay receivers, but they are expected to arrive later this year.