MacRumors

Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and musician Dr. Dre are both expected to take on senior roles at Apple following Apple's acquisition of Beats Electronics, reports The Wall Street Journal. The two may not take on full time positions, but will commute from the Los Angeles area, where Beats is based, to meetings in Cupertino and elsewhere as necessary.

Citing people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal suggests that specific roles for Iovine and Dre remain unclear, but Iovine will be leaving his role as chairman of Interscope Geffan A&M records, a division of Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group. Both Dr. Dre -- real name Andre Young -- and Iovine could help Apple secure deals with record labels and attract younger customers.

While Mr. Iovine's rock-star temperament could still ruffle some feathers in tech-centric Cupertino, it may help Apple broker deals in the music industry and appeal to the younger consumers who gravitate to Beats headphones.

Apple is said to be working on an overhaul of iTunes in order to boost declining music sales. The addition of the Beats Music streaming service along with a thriving hardware business and two seasoned veterans of the music industry may help the company achieve the drastic revamp it's aiming for while introducing new revenue streams.

Today's report follows a report from the New York Post suggesting Iovine will join Apple as a "special adviser" to Tim Cook on creative matters. While Apple's $3.2 billion acquisition of Beats Electronics has yet to be completed, Dr. Dre seemingly confirmed the acquisition in a video posted this morning, where he alluded the merger would make him the "first billionaire in hip-hop."

As noted by The Wall Street Journal, Apple's hiring of Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine represents Tim Cook's willingness to step out of the spotlight. Earlier this month, the company welcomed former Burberry CEO and high-profile hire Angela Ahrendts as the new retail chief. Other Apple executives, like Jony Ive and Craig Federighi, have also been stepping into the spotlight more often than they did under Steve Jobs.

Apple's iPhone upgrade event has officially begun, as the company has started to send out emails encouraging upgrade-eligible older iPhone owners to trade in their phones for newer models. iPhone 4s users started receiving emails on May 8, with the headline "It's a beautiful time for an upgrade."

The emails nudged iPhone 4s owners to "recycle" their phones to receive up to a $199 credit to put towards the purchase of an iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c under Apple's iPhone trade-in program, which the company first launched in August.

As noted by 9to5Mac, Apple Store employees have also received a memo instructing them to encourage iPhone 4 and 4s to trade in their phones with more attractive trade-in values. Apple is offering iPhone 4 users up to $99 towards the purchase of an iPhone 5s or 5c, while iPhone 4s owners can get up to $199, making an upgrade to a subsidized iPhone 5s essentially free.

Apple's retail stores are also displaying signs with the same "It's a beautiful time to upgrade" message, but it appears those signs may have pre-dated the kick off of Apple's upgrade initiative, having been spotted last week.

"It's a beautiful time for an upgrade. You may be eligible for upgrade pricing on a new iPhone. And if you bring in your old iPhone to be recycled, you could get credit toward a new one. Ask us for details."

First highlighted earlier this week, Apple's upgrade initiative is designed to boost in-store sales of the iPhone. The event will see Apple heavily pushing its iPhone trade-in program and launching improved trade-in options in an effort to get customers to upgrade their phones.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has noted his desire to increase in-store iPhone sales multiple times over the past year, saying Apple will improve sales through a variety of promotional tactics and incentive programs. Currently, 80 percent of iPhones are sold at third party locations while Apple sells just 20 percent, a ratio Cook would like to improve.

As Apple kicks off its trade-in initiative, Best Buy is also offering an up to $200 trade-in value for customers who bring in an older iPhone and upgrade to an iPhone 5s or 5c. Phones must be in working condition without a cracked display to receive a Best Buy gift card through May 11. An iPhone 5 is guaranteed $200, while an iPhone 4s gets $150 and the iPhone 4 gets $100.

Over the course of the last several years, streaming music services like Spotify, Rdio, Pandora, and Beats Music have been growing in popularity, usurping traditional music downloads as consumers' listening method of choice. Despite the shift in user preference, Apple has been slow to adapt, attempting to stick to its download model even as its iTunes music sales have declined.

According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal music labels had been urging Apple to get into the subscription music business long before the company decided to enter negotiations to purchase Beats Electronics, and with it, the Beats Music streaming service.

Record executives have been "lobbying Apple for months" to design a subscription streaming service that would introduce the streaming music business model to a wider array of consumers, but Apple has been reluctant to create such a service, instead focusing on download-centric ideas such as exclusive iTunes album releases.

Back in December, Beyoncé launched an iTunes exclusive album and Apple hoped to negotiate with record labels to secure additional exclusive releases to boost iTunes music sales. Record labels didn't believe that strategy would do enough to bolster flagging sales, and instead presented Apple with ideas like prompting users to subscribe to a music service over purchasing a music album.

Apple, on the other hand, had pitched more download-centric ideas in recent months, according to people familiar with the matter. One such suggestion was that record companies release all new albums exclusively on iTunes in album-only format for a window of time to drive album sales, before releasing the singles separately and making them available on streaming services. But labels countered that such a strategy--employed successfully by Beyoncé last year--wouldn't work across the board.

Declining music sales have become a significant issue for Apple, to the point where the company has been forced to consider an entire overhaul of iTunes, introducing not only a streaming music service, but also an Android version of the iTunes store. Music downloads declined approximately 13.3 percent in the first quarter of 2014 compared to the first quarter of 2013.

Apple did launch iTunes Radio back in September of 2013, providing a station-based streaming music service similar to Pandora, but this was seen as a "baby step" aimed at bolstering sales of Apple devices rather than a dedicated entry into the streaming music market.

With the purchase of Beats Music, Apple is potentially signaling its readiness to adapt to the music industry's shift towards streaming services and its readiness to bring music streaming to the mainstream. While Spotify and other streaming services are relatively small, Apple's massive iTunes customer base gives it the potential to introduce streaming music to a huge number of users.

Toward that end, Jon Maples argues that an acquisition of Beats would give Apple an easy entry into the true subscription music streaming market without necessarily diluting iTunes.

While music purchases may be falling, it’s still a big business for Apple. So instead of creating another option in iTunes that would potentially cannibalize download sales, why not just buy a service and keep it separate? Streaming blows up: Apple wins. Streaming doesn’t pan out, well, they still have the iTunes store chugging along.

With Apple having 800 million iTunes accounts to leverage, most with credit cards on file, the company can streamline and promote the Beats experience while still leaving its iTunes download service intact. And as Maples notes, Beats' headphone business is currently highly profitable, which means Apple's $3.2 billion purchase of Beats (Apple's largest acquisition ever by far) could pay for itself in a relatively short period of time and actually provide Apple with a low-cost entry into subscription music services on the side.

Italian site Macitynet, which previously published several photos of a fairly good quality physical mockup of the rumored 4.7-inch iPhone 6 based on design drawings from Japanese magazine MacFan, has now shared an interesting new photo set [Google Translate] comparing the mockup to a current-generation iPod touch.

The photos clearly show how similar the two devices are in design, from the curved edges on the rear shell to the style of speaker holes along the bottom edge. The iPhone 6 at 7.0 mm thick based on the design drawings is clearly thicker than the iPod touch at 6.1 mm, although the iPhone 6 would still be noticeably thinner than the iPhone 5s at 7.6 mm.

The iPhone 6 of course has larger height and width than the iPod touch, given that the body must accommodate a 4.7-inch display compared to the 4-inch display of the iPod touch.

The style is naturally also similar to the iPhone 5c, which itself took some design cues from the iPod touch, although the bright rear shell colors are the defining features of the iPhone 5c and they are unlikely to make their way into Apple's flagship iPhone 6.

In addition to the 4.7-inch iPhone 6, Apple is rumored to be launching an even larger model with a 5.5-inch display, although that may follow several months after the smaller version. High-quality physical mockups of that device have yet to appear, although users with access to a 3D printer can print their own using files based on the design drawings published by MacFan earlier this year.

Yesterday, designer Martin Hajek started selling a $25 set of 3D files that allow you to print your own 4.7-inch iPhone 6 mockup using a 3D printer. Today, a second set of 3D plans for both the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch version of the iPhone 6 were released by MacRumors forum user Arthur Tilly and made available for free on Thingiverse.

Using measurements available from leaked design drawings, the plans allow anyone with access to a 3D printer to print out the alleged iPhone 6 design and see how it feels in their hand. The set includes an .STL file for 3D printing and an editable OpenSCad file that can be used to modify the design and add some of the missing details like the Apple logo.

So, here's an OpenSCad file to create one, and the STL file it makes. There are some comments in there, so you can adjust things to your personal rumour preference. And improve it, of course. It doesn't print the expected lump on the back for the lens (that would mean the entire build would be on supports, or it would have to be printed a different way around). Neither does it have an apple logo or some other details that would be nice. Maybe I'll improve it soon, or feel free to do so yourself...

There has been no shortage of renderings of the rumored iPhone 6 that provide an advance look at the possible shape and size of Apple's upcoming smartphone. A new post from Taiwanese blog AppleCorner provides precise measurements of 138 x 67 x 7.0 mm obtained from one of these mockups, while a Sonny Dickson leak shows physical mockups in roughly the current three colors used on the iPhone 5s.

While there are a variety of cases and mockups all pointing in the same direction for the design of the iPhone 6, it is important to remember that most of these products are essentially all based on the same sets of leaked design drawings, and they ultimately may or may not prove correct.

Since the Financial Times broke the news yesterday, numerous publications are now claiming Apple is in the final stages of acquiring Beats Electronics, a headphone company and streaming music service created by hip hop star Dr. Dre and music industry veteran Jimmy Iovine. The response to the news is mixed, with some experts offering compelling reasons for the deal and other pundits questioning Apple's rationale in pursuing what would be its biggest acquisition to date.

Iovine has strong ties to the music industry and a long history of working with Apple, having met with Steve Jobs to discuss a subscription music service in 2003 and more recently in talks with Apple's Tim Cook and Eddy Cue about the Beats Music service before it launched earlier this year. In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Iovine credits Apple as his inspiration for the idea of the Beats brand.

"The idea of Beats...to be very frank, I got from Apple," he said, noting the "uniqueness of their blending of technology with popular culture."

If the acquisition proceeds, Iovine may join Apple as a "special adviser" to Tim Cook on creative matters. Iovine would bring to Apple his knowledge of the music business as evidenced in a AllThingsD interview from last year embedded below, and his insider influence that Wall Street Journal sources predict could be used to boost advertising on Apple's existing iTunes Radio.

Apple also would acquire Beats' successful consumer electronics business selling high-margin headphones and its newly launched music streaming service. Apple could bring the Beats hardware brand under the guidance of Jony Ive and use it to create new music product lines and add new channels to sell Apple's products, suggests Re/code. The Beats music service is likely a longer-term investment, allowing Apple to accelerate any plans to offer a streaming music service for its iTunes customers, which number in the hundreds of millions.

Analysts, however, are meeting the news of the high-priced acquisition with both contempt and confusion, noting that such an acquisition is out of character for the Cupertino company. One of the first to weigh in on the deal was Gene Munster, who called the acquisition a "bad idea" in an investor note.

We are struggling to see the rationale behind this move. Beats would of course bring a world class brand in music to Apple, but Apple already has a world class brand and has never acquired a brand for a brand's sake (i.e., there are no non-Apple sub-brands under the company umbrella). Separately, we are not aware of any intellectual property within Beats that would drive the acquisition justification beyond the brand.

Apple pundit John Gruber of Daring Fireball was equally skeptical of the deal, saying "I don’t get it."

On the surface, this doesn’t make any sense to me. I can’t see Apple keeping the “Beats” brand around for headphones. If Apple wanted to sell expensive high-end headphones, they don’t need to spend $3 billion. The Beats streaming service is interesting, but can’t Apple do that on its own, as an expansion of the iTunes Music Store and iTunes Radio?

According to the original Financial Times report, Apple's acquisition of Beats could be announced as soon as next week. Negotiations are still ongoing with some final details yet to be ironed out, allowing for the possibility that "talks could still fall apart."

Apple has hired Nokia's Lumia photography chief Ari Partinen, reports Engadget. Partinen stated on his Twitter that he will be "starting a new chapter in Cupertino" this June, later confirming that he will join Apple.

According to Partinen's LinkedIn biography, his responsibilities at Nokia included "working with image quality characterization and tuning on camera module level", while handling camera component production and quality control on a global scale. Partinen also lists the Nokia's 808 PureView and Nokia N8 as devices he has worked on, which were regarded for their noteworthy photographic capabilities.

Partinen's hire comes as Apple is reportedly looking to bolster the next-generation iPhone's camera through optical image stabilization and other improvements. Nokia has focused heavily on the advantages of the camera's on its devices throughout the past few years, recently launching the Nokia Lumia 1520 with a 20 MP PureView camera.

A new report from Taiwan's Economic Daily News (via Reuters) claims that Apple will unveil and launch the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 in August, with a larger 5.5-inch or 5.6-inch model to be released in September. The report also notes that Apple will produce 80 million iPhone 6 units this year, with Apple suppliers Foxconn and Largan Precision aiding with assembly and camera module production, respectively.

An August launch of the iPhone 6 would be a different strategy for Apple, as the company has launched the past three versions of the iPhone in September or October. The news also contrasts prior reports claiming that the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will launch in September, with the 5.5-inch version not launching until later this year or early 2015 due to issues with the device's battery life and display technology.

In addition to a larger screen, Apple's next-generation iPhone is expected to include a thinner profile, a faster A8 processor, and an improved camera. Jefferies analyst Peter Misek also claimed last month that Apple is negotiating with carriers to raise the price of the iPhone 6 by $100.

Just a couple hours after the Financial Times reported that Apple was in talks to acquire Beats Electronics, the New York Post is reporting that Beats CEO Jimmy Iovine is in talks to join Apple as a "special adviser" to Tim Cook on creative matters.

Beats Electronics boss and veteran music industry executive Jimmy Iovine is in talks to join Apple as a “special adviser” to Tim Cook on creative matters, two sources close to talks tell The Post.

Iovine is also the chairman of Universal Music Group's Interscope Geffen A&M music labels, though his contract is set to expire at the end of 2014. However, it's not clear if this is part of the potential purchase of Beats Electronics or separate from that deal.

Iovine has strong contacts in the music industry, allowing Apple to potentially leverage him for potential future negotiations with music labels. This would make him a strong addition even if Apple doesn't purchase Beats.

If Iovine does join Apple, Iovine would be the second high profile executive to join the company after former Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts. The Beats CEO also has a history with Apple, having pitched Steve Jobs on a subscription music service and meeting with Apple executives about Beats Music before it launched.

Apple is said to be close to completing an acquisition of Beats Electronics, the headphone company and streaming music service created by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine. According to the Financial Times, the deal could be announced as soon as next week if negotiations work out.

Apple will acquire Beats' streaming music service, which launched this year, and its audio equipment business, which includes its brand of headphones and audio equipment. The Beats management team will report to Mr Cook, said people familiar with the deal. Apple and Beats declined to comment.

Apple is said to be paying $3.2 billion dollars for the company, a sum that dwarfs the $404 million Apple spent to acquire NeXT in 1996, its largest purchase to date. As of its last earnings call, Apple had some $150 billion in cash on hand, plenty to cover the large acquisition.

Tim Cook said earlier this year that the company was open to making large acquisitions if the purchases made sense. "We have no problem spending 10 figures for the right company, for the right fit that's in the best interest of Apple in the long-term. None. Zero."

In addition to producing a range of popular premium headphones and speakers that Apple currently sells in its stores, Beats also recently launched its Beats Music service, a direct competitor to Spotify, Pandora, and Apple's own iTunes Radio service. Beats Music is, however, a subscription-based on-demand service, which could bolster Apple's free station-based iTunes Radio service.

The purchase of Beats Electronics comes as Apple has been rumored to be working on a complete overhaul of iTunes in order to address declining music sales. Part of Apple's revamp was said to include an on-demand streaming music service similar to Spotify, but the company may have elected to purchase Beats rather than designing its own service from the ground up.

Beats Music, which is available to subscribers for $9.99 per month, focuses heavily on curation. The company has hired music experts from popular radio stations around the country to create stations and playlists from the service's 20 million song catalog. It is unclear if Apple will keep the Beats Music format intact if it does indeed acquire the company, but the curation will fit well with the iTunes Music Store, which also offers music choices picked by Apple editors.

Apple and Beats Electronics have had an ongoing relationship, with Beats CEO Jimmy Iovine meeting with Tim Cook and other Apple executives about a possible partnership back in January of 2013. Iovine also reportedly pitched Steve Jobs on a streaming music service a decade ago, but Jobs passed on the opportunity.

According to the Financial Times, the deal is still in the works with some details yet to be ironed out, suggesting "talks could still fall apart."

Update May 8 3:30 PM PT: Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times have confirmed that Apple is in talks with Beats Electronics over a possible acquisition.

Update May 9 4:24 AM PT: A new video on Facebook (warning: NSFW language) posted by actor Tyrese Gibson (via The Next Web) shows Beats Electronics founder and musician Dr. Dre seemingly confirming the acquisition, however Apple and Beats Electronics have yet to speak on the potential purchase.

Update May 9 5:08 AM PT: The video featuring Dr. Dre seemingly confirming the acquisition has been pulled from Facebook, however it has since been reuploaded to YouTube by another source.

Following our feature yesterday sharing photos of a case and 3D-printed physical mockup of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6, designer Martin Hajek is selling his own set of 3D files for a similar model, priced at $25. The files allow anyone interested in trying out how the alleged design feels in the hand to print their own mockup.

Hajek's $25 package is available through TurboSquid and includes an .STL file for 3D printing as well as .3DS and .OBJ modeling files. For users interested in printing their own physical mockups, quality will obviously depend on the quality of machine used for printing, but the .STL file is compatible with a wide range of machines and services.

The design is based on the leaked concept by MacFan magazine.

Download this file, 3D print it and see what the new iPhone will look like for yourself!
Don't own a 3D printer? Don't worry - a version of the model fit for the Shapeways 3D printing service is included!

Based on our experience with our 3D-printed mockup, we are continuing to refine our own model and may freely release those 3D files in the future.

Availability of iPhone 6 files for 3D printing comes as physical mockups have been appearing in increasing numbers. French site Nowhereelse.fr has been sharing several other photos on Twitter, while regular parts source Sonny Dickson has shared a few of his own images.

While there are a variety of cases and mockups all pointing in the same direction for the design of the iPhone 6, it is important to remember that most of these products are essentially all based on the same sets of leaked design drawings, and they ultimately may or may not prove correct.

Leaked cases and accessory company mockups have generally proven accurate over the years, although they were famously incorrect in 2011 when a tapered design led to numerous cases being produced to fit that design. Ultimately, Apple released the iPhone 4s with essentially the same design as the iPhone 4, and the tapered has not been seen since, although one report indicated that it was in fact a real prototype design that was scrapped by Apple.

Apple's design chief Jony Ive is set to be honored with the Bay Area Treasure Award, given by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Ive will receive the award for his long history of designing innovative products for Apple.

"Ive is our generation's most innovative and influential figure in the field of industrial design--no other design mind has done more to transform the way we visualize and share information," said SFMOMA Director Neal Benezra. "SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast to establish a department of architecture and design, and we're thrilled to celebrate Ive's revolutionary achievements."

Ive, who has designed products for Apple since 1992, has been responsible for many of the company's flagship products, including the iPod, iPod touch, iPhone, iPad, iMac, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and iOS 7.

The award will be given to Ive at a dinner and presentation set to be held on Thursday, October 30, 2014, where Ive will speak with SFMOMA Curator of Architecture and Design Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher. Tickets for the event will range in price from $400 to $1,250 and can be purchased via the Modern Art Council.

In the past, SFMOMA's Bay Area Treasure Award has been given to famed artists and creators like architect Lawrence Halprin, filmmaker George Lucas, media artist Jim Cambbell, and painter Wayne Thiebaud. In a statement, Ive said he was proud to be recognized by the museum.

"I've always enjoyed visiting SFMOMA, and I think it represents exceptional contemporary art and design," said Ive. "I'm very grateful to the museum and proud to be recognized among such an amazing list of past recipients."

Ive has received several other awards for his work at Apple, including a 2007 National Design Award for the iPhone and a 2009 honorary doctorate from the Rhode Island School of Design. Ive was also appointed as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire back in 2006 and in 2012, he was elevated to Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, where he was knighted by Princess Anne.

A number of mostly international iOS users on MacRumors forums, Apple's support forums, and Twitter are reporting issues with failed app updates today. According to affected users, the process of updating apps in the iOS App Store produces a warning that "the update is not available for this Apple ID either because it was bought by a different user or the item was refunded or cancelled."

Reader Vinamra on MacRumors forums:

"I go 4 app updates today and as soon as I clicked the update button, the App Store app popped up with the following message:

"Update Unavailable with this Apple ID - This update is not available for this Apple ID either because it was bought by a different user or the item was refunded or cancelled."

I have always used a single Apple ID and this phone (5S) was bought new and have never had this problem in the past."

Member Albertus8898 on Apple Support Forums:

i didnt change or log out from my apple id at my iphone 5. But when i wanted to update one of my apps it said "update is not available for this apple id either becuase of using different id or...." then i checked my apple id's apps and most of my apps gone. what should i do to make them back to my apple id account? and i tried to delete those apps and redownload them but it gave the same message.

One user contacted an Apple Support representative, who confirmed there was a server issue on Apple's side that was affecting app updates. Apple is working on the problem, but the company has not provided a timeline for the fix.

At this time, this issue that you're experiencing with updating apps is being investigated. There are no possible fixes at this current time, as [it's] an issue with our servers, but we are working on it and should have it functioning properly later today.

While such an error message may appear when users are managing multiple accounts or changing countries, the number of complaints surfacing today and reports from several users indicating that they are only using one account with no changes in country suggest that there is indeed a broader issue with Apple's systems today.

Today, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple patent application number 20140125825 that describes a method of producing super-resolution images using optical image stabilization (OIS) and burst-mode photos (via AppleInsider). This may allow future models of the iPhone to generate images that exceed the megapixel resolution limits of the camera hardware.

The invention uses a camera with an optical image stabilization module that can take multiple images with each subsequent capture offset by a small amount. These lower resolution images are then intelligently stitched together by a dedicated image processor to create a resulting high-resolution photograph.

A system and method for creating a super-resolution image using an image capturing device. In one embodiment, an electronic image sensor captures a reference optical sample through an optical path. Thereafter, an optical image stabilization (OIS) processor to adjusts the optical path to the electronic image sensor by a known amount. A second optical sample is then captured along the adjusted optical path, such that the second optical sample is offset from the first optical sample by no more than a sub-pixel offset. The OIS processor may reiterate this process to capture a plurality of optical samples at a plurality of offsets. The optical samples may be combined to create a super-resolution image.

Image stabilization allows for sharper photos and videos by utilizing motion tracking and other technology to remove the effects of device shakiness during capture. Apple currently offers software-based image stabilization in which the device takes four photos in quick succession and the combines them to reduce blurring., but the company has been rumored to be looking to improve this system. While OIS would embed the technology directly into the camera hardware, improved electronic image stabilization would allow for the iPhone to have a slimmer camera that does not protrude outside the device.

Rumors from earlier this year suggested Apple could incorporate Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) technology into its upcoming iPhone 6, possibly contracting with InvenSense to supply the necessary hardware. The company's work on the technology has also surfaced in other patent filings, leveraging the expertise of Richard Topliss an engineer recruited from Cambridge Mechatronics in early 2012. The most recent rumor from ESM China analyst Sun Chang Xu claims, however, that Apple may equip the iPhone 6 camera with an improved sensor module and an electronic image stabilization system.