Businessweek recaps the recent exchanges between Steve Jobs and Edgar Bronfan - chief executive of Warner Music. At the heart of the matter is the debate between fixed $.99 pricing for music downloads vs a tiered model.
"There's no content in the world that has doesn't have some price flexibility," Bronfman pointed out. "Not all songs are created equal. Not all albums are created equal."
Steve Jobs has insisted that the $.99 price point is appropriate and feels that higher pricing will turn consumers back towards piracy.
Businessweek reports that Apple's licensing agreements with the Music Industry runs out in early 2006. Apple may continue to hold the advantage in these licensing negotiations as it cements its hold on the music player market. Meanwhile, Apple's recent entry into the Flash-based MP3 player market with the iPod nano may provide it with an even wider lead.
Apple's lock on large quantities of flash at a substantial discount will make it difficult to other companies to compete, and provide Steve Jobs and Apple the leverage to keep music prices where they are. Apple is rumored to be securing more flash supplies with a deal with Hynix Semiconductor.
The new flash memory from Samsung is a new Multi-Level Cell type which is 30-40% cheaper than the more common SLC type that many competitors use. Samsung defends its established deal with Apple:
It's true that the company that has the largest market will have the edge. Buying 100 units and buying one can't be same.
Apple's recently announced CarPlay Ultra promises a deeply integrated in-car experience, but not all iPhone users will be able to take advantage of the new feature.
According to Apple's press release, CarPlay Ultra requires an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.5 or later. This means if you're using an iPhone 11, iPhone XR, or any older model, you'll need to upgrade your device to access...
Apple is expected to launch an all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air later this year, and while there have been plenty of rumors about the camera's overall design and thinness, we haven't heard any details about the device's weight and battery capacity until now.
According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean-langauge Naver blog, the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air has a weight ...
Apple today announced that its next-generation CarPlay experience, now dubbed "CarPlay Ultra" begins rolling out today, starting with Aston Martin vehicles.
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CarPlay Ultra is now available with new Aston Martin vehicle orders in the U.S. and Canada. It will also be available for existing models that feature the brand's next-generation ...
Apple today announced the launch of CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles.
CarPlay Ultra features deep integration with a vehicle's instrument cluster and systems, built-in Radio and Climate apps, customizable widgets, and more. The interface is tailored to each vehicle model and automaker's identity, and drivers can also adjust...
Apple today announced a more detailed schedule for its annual developers conference WWDC, which runs from June 9 through June 13. The schedule confirms that Apple's keynote will begin on Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, with a live stream to be available on Apple.com, in the Apple TV app, and on YouTube.
During the keynote, Apple is expected to announce iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16,...
Apple has big plans to improve Siri over the next few years, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Drake Bennett report.
Some Apple executives are now reportedly pushing to turn Siri into a true ChatGPT competitor. A next-generation, chatbot version of Siri has reportedly made significant progress during testing over the past six months; some executives allegedly now see it as "on par" with recent...
Apple plans to mostly stop announcing new features more than a few months before they are ready to launch, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Drake Bennett. The pair of reporters revealed this noteworthy tidbit towards the bottom of a lengthy report about Apple's artificial intelligence shortcomings today.
This alleged change in strategy comes after Apple was forced to delay its more...
