MacRumors

Apple is considering launching an on-demand streaming service similar to Spotify in light of declining music sales, reports Billboard. The service would be part of a multi-prong strategy that may also include an iTunes app for Android.

Apple has opened exploratory talks with senior label executives about the possibility of launching an on-demand streaming service that would rival Spotify and Beats Music, according to three people familiar with the talks. Apple is also thinking about adding an iTunes App for Android phones, the Google rival that has been growing faster than the iPhone, these sources said.

In January, it was reported that music sales had declined for the first time since the iTunes Store opened 2003, with individual song downloads falling 5.7 percent from 1.34 billion units sold to 1.26 billion, and digital album sales dropping to 117.6 million units from 117.7 million units.

In recent months, Apple has attempted to lure more customers with exclusive album releases, such as Beyoncé's fifth album, released first on iTunes, and has been pushing record companies for additional deals of that nature.

Album sales have remained down, however, as streaming services have risen in popularity, prompting Apple to explore other options as well. A March report from the RIAA indicated Spotify, Pandora, and YouTube had generated $1.4 billion in subscription, advertising, and licensing revenues in the U.S. in 2013, a 39 percent increase from 2012.

Apple introduced its iTunes Radio streaming music service last year, but it is station-based like Pandora, limiting how many songs users can choose for themselves. An iTunes service similar to Spotify or Beats Music would allow listeners to pick and choose all of their content, which could potentially be accessed on other non-Apple platforms like Android.

"They are feeling out some people at labels on thoughts about transitioning its customers from iTunes proper to a streaming service," says one major label source. "So when you buy a song for $1.29, and you put it in your library, iTunes might send an e-mail pointing out that for a total of, say, $8 a month you can access that song plus all the music in the iTunes store. It's all in the 'what if stage."

Apple's talks with record labels about a possible expansion of iTunes Radio into a full-fledged music streaming service are still in the early stages, and the company has declined to comment.

Apple, Yahoo, and Google all have terms of service that allow them to read users' emails if necessary, according to research done by The Guardian. Apple's iCloud Terms and Conditions includes a clause that gives Apple permission to disclose Account information and Content, including iCloud email, when necessary by law, to address security, fraud, or technical issues, or to protect the rights and property of Apple.

You acknowledge and agree that Apple may, without liability to you, access, use, preserve and/or disclose your Account information and Content to law enforcement authorities, government officials, and/or a third party, as Apple believes is reasonably necessary or appropriate, if legally required to do so or if we have a good faith belief that such access, use, disclosure, or preservation is reasonably necessary to: (a) comply with legal process or request; (b) enforce this Agreement, including investigation of any potential violation thereof; (c) detect, prevent or otherwise address security, fraud or technical issues; or (d) protect the rights, property or safety of Apple, its users, a third party, or the public as required or permitted by law.

Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft's terms of service all contain similar wording granting the technology companies unfettered access to content. The Guardian initially began investigating the rights of major companies to access user email after Microsoft looked through the personal Hotmail account of a blogger in order to discover the source of a Windows 8 leak.

Microsoft employee Alex Kibkalo was found sending a tech blogger parts of Windows 8 code back in 2012, allowing the blogger to access screenshots of the operating system, which were then posted online. Microsoft fired Kibkalo, but its methods of discovery were questioned, prompting the company to make a statement on its investigation policies, pledging not to read customer emails except in circumstances where a court order would be justified and vowing to announce such searches in its bi-annual transparency report.

While it is Microsoft that's under fire for reading the email of its users, as mentioned above, Apple, Google, and Yahoo have the same rights to access content under questionable conditions. Apple does not mention whether or not it accesses iCloud email for non-security reasons in its own transparency reports and it is unclear whether the company has accessed private content in the search for leaks.

Apple is a notoriously secretive company, however, going to great lengths to protect its upcoming products. According to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, product secrecy is one of the specific tenets that has been responsible for Apple's success, and in 2012, Tim Cook said the company would "double down on secrecy on products."

Nevertheless, Apple has had a hard time keeping leaks under wraps. The iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c were both unveiled long before their release, and more recently, some significant iOS 8 leaks have come to light.

Apple and Google both opted not to comment to The Guardian on the clauses in their Terms of Services, but all customers opt-in to possible searches when signing up for an email account with either company.

Last night on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, Billy Joel joined the talk show host in a doo-wop video so entertaining that it was singled out by Tim Cook on Twitter.

The featured iPad app is Loopy HD [Direct Link], which allows you to create music by layering loops that you record yourself. Fallon and Joel sang The Lion Sleeps Tonight, a song made popular in the 1960s by doo-wop group The Tokens. The pair sang different parts of the song in an amusing exchange that features a solo by Fallon and the always powerful vocals of Joel.

This isn't the first time the musical aspect of the iPad has taken center stage on Fallon's talk shows. In a 2010 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon episode that aired shortly after the original iPad was launched, Fallon invited English New Wave band Squeeze to the stage, with keyboardist Stephen Large splitting his performance between a Roland VK-8 and an iPad.

Apple's iBeacon technology is poised to influence the retail sector by offering a personalized shopping experience to customers, but it may also have personal benefits by interacting with apps when a user is at home.

As spotted by TechCrunch, new iOS app Placed gives us a glimpse into personal iBeacon usage, linking an incoming iBeacon signal to apps associated with common household activities. With appropriately placed iBeacons, you could enable the remote when you sit on the couch or start a timer when you step up to the oven to cook.

It's an early implementation of iBeacon technology as the app integration is only partially automated, sending a notification to your phone that requires you to manually launch an app before anything happens. It an interesting use of iBeacon technology, though, and a small step towards a wider use of iBeacons the automated home.

Besides personal and retail use, iBeacon technology also is being used in sports to assist fans and add to the overall game experience. The Golden State Warriors became the first NBA team to adopt Apple's iBeacon technology, installing the Bluetooth transmitters in the team's home arena, reports Business Week.

The iBeacon technology is being used to boost ticket sales by prompting fans to upgrade their tickets as they make their way to their nosebleed seats inside Oracle Arena. The Warriors, as well as other sports teams, already offer seat upgrades through their mobile apps, but this is the first time iBeacons have been used to boost ticket sales in this way.

A new report by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) suggests iPad owners replace their tablets less frequently than their iPhone-owning counterparts, who upgrade almost every two years. The longer iPad replacement cycle may be more like the Mac, which tends to be replaced every 2-4 years, or possibly even televisions which have a five to 10-year ownership span. (Via Fortune)

The CIRP report, which surveyed 2,000 U.S. customers who purchased an iPhone, iPad or Mac in 2013, shows that almost half of iPad owners will go without their tablet, waiting a week or more to replace a broken, lost or stolen device. They also are twice as likely as iPhone owners to give their older iPad to friends or family members.

"We think Apple would prefer the iPad become a big iPhone," the report concludes. "We suspect, though, based on recent CIRP data about how buyers use them, that it's as much like a Mac, TV, or iPod, with less frequent replacement."

This replacement rate could affect future sales, driving them down as the tablet market becomes saturated. In this scenario, consumers would hold onto an iPad for a longer period of time, and future first-time iPad owners would be more likely to receive an older iPad than buy a new one.

Even as competition increases and the tablet market slows, Apple still is the top tablet vendor worldwide with 36 percent market share, according to Gartner's March 2014 report. The Cupertino company sold a record 26 million iPads in Q1 2014 and 195 million tablets overall.

Director David Fincher, who is in talks to direct the Aaron Sorkin-scripted Steve Jobs biopic based on Water Isaacson’s biography, is hoping to cast Christian Bale in the leading role as Steve Jobs, reports TheWrap.

Though Fincher has not yet officially signed on to direct the film, he has allegedly said that he will take on the project if Christian Bale plays Steve Jobs. Bale has not been approached about the possible role, but he has reportedly been a front runner for the position due to his undeniable resemblance to Jobs.

While Steve Jobs is a long way from Batman, Bale has been considered a prime contender to play the tech superhero since the project was first announced due to his physical resemblance to the Apple co-founder.

Bale has not been approached to play Jobs yet, as the actor is taking a step away from the business to spend time with his family now that he has wrapped the role of Moses in Ridley Scott’s "Exodus," which is expected to have him back in the awards conversation after "American Hustle."

David Fincher, who may direct the yet unnamed biopic, was the director behind The Social Network, another Silicon Valley-based film that won three Academy Awards and was nominated for five more, including Best Picture and Best Director.

Sorkin completed the script for the upcoming Jobs movie back in January, and the film is said to take place across three continuous 30-minute scenes at three different Jobs-led product launches.

The movie, which is still in the casting stages, has no set launch date at the current time.

Samsung has released a new anti-Apple advertisement that highlights the perceived shortcomings of the iPad in comparison to Samsung's new Galaxy Tab Pro and Galaxy Note Pro tablets. Targeting not only Apple, the ad also criticizes Microsoft's Surface tablet and the Amazon Kindle.

The ad uses three scenarios to highlight the advantages of the Galaxy Pro series over its competitors. The first is a business conference call, during which the Galaxy owner is able to talk and simultaneously send a report because of the Galaxy's multitasking feature that allows him to display multiple Android applications at once on the screen. There's also a slight jab at the Microsoft Surface, which is ridiculed for being "computer-like" because of its keyboard, battery pack and mouse.

The ad then switches to more personal uses of the tablet with a quick dig at Amazon's Kindle device, which can only read books, while the Galaxy can pull up YouTube videos during a book club meeting. The harshest comment comes at the end when two ladies at a spa are comparing their iPad and Galaxy tablets. The discourse on the lower screen resolution of the iPad (2048-by-1536 resolution) when compared to the Galaxy Pro (2560-by-1600 resolution) ends with a condescending smile from the Galaxy owner when the iPad owner retorts that her iPad has "the retina thingy."

Samsung has a history of chiding its competitors in commercials, so it's not surprising to see the Korean company take on the iPad shortly after unveiling its Galaxy Pro series earlier this year.

The Galaxy Note Pro features Samsung's S-Pen technology, while the Tab Pro is the company's standard tablet. The Galaxy Note Pro is available in a 12.2-inch size, while the Galaxy Tab Pro ships with 12.2, 10.1 or 8.4-inch displays.

China Mobile Chief Executive Li Yue confirmed on Thursday that the carrier added one million new iPhone customers last month following the iPhone's launch in mid-January, reports the Wall Street Journal. China Mobile released these subscriber figures as part of its annual earnings statement, which also included the carrier's first profit decline in 14 years.
To offset increasing competition from rival carriers China Unicom and China Telecom, China Mobile is trying to attract new customers with the combination of its new 4G network and flagship phones like the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c.

"We added 1.34 million new 4G users in February and most of them are iPhone users. We are happy with the progress as we are still building our 4G network and the coverage is only available in some major cities," China Mobile Chairman Xi Gouhua told The Wall Street Journal.

China is the world's largest mobile phone market by subscribers, and China Mobile is the country's largest wireless carrier with 776 million subscribers. Analysts predict the addition of the iPhone to China Mobile's smartphone lineup could boost iPhone sales by 15 to 30 million units in 2014. Apple sold 51 million iPhones globally in Q1 2014 and has sold 472.3 million smartphones in total as of January 2014.

Apple's graphics partner for iOS devices, Imagination Technologies, has announced a new version of its PowerVR graphics architecture that includes ray-tracing capabilities. Apple currently uses the PowerVR G6430 graphics package from Imagination in its latest A7 chip that powers the iPhone 5s, iPad Air, and Retina iPad mini, so Imagination's new technology is likely of interest to Apple.

Offering more realistic lighting and shadows, the new GPU design known as "Wizard" marks a significant leap forward by bringing ray tracing to mobile devices.

For the better part of the last eight years, we have been busy developing unique hardware and software technologies to radically lower the cost and dramatically increase the efficiency and performance of ray tracing.

This work culminates at GDC 2014 with the official launch of the PowerVR Wizard GPU family, a range of IP processors that offer high-performance ray tracing, graphics and compute in a power envelope suitable for mobile and embedded use cases. This opens up the potential of highly photorealistic, computer generated imagery to a host of new real-time applications and markets not previously possible.

➜ Click here to read rest of article...