Apple could be paying as much as $1.3 billion each year for the iTunes Store according to analysis from mobile industry analysts Asymco. The figures put Apple at breaking even, which Apple has said it does previously. Asymco considered Apple’s sales for songs, videos, apps and books as well as its estimated payments to developers and rights holders. “Much of that cost does go into serving the content (traffic and payment processing). Some of it goes to curation and support. But it’s very likely that there is much left over to be invested in capacity increases,” wrote Asymco. “I would like to hear alternative opinions, but my guess is that much of the capex that went into the new data centers Apple built came from the iTunes operating margin.”
Bands have been using Twitter to promote and share new songs, with big names like Dave Matthews Band giving away tracks almost from the day links first began being shared. The latest take on this concept comes from The Kooks, on the EMI label, whose song “The Saboteur” is playable on a dedicated Web site. The catch is that the amount of the song that’s playable depends on how many fans are tweeting the hashtag #junkoftheheart. The site even has a “Tweet-o-meter” that shows the level of activity for the track. “The more you tweet, the more of the track will unlock, but be careful because if the tweets dry up the track will start to lock again,” reads the site.
Walmart wants its brick-and-mortar customers to start looking into its streaming movie service Vudu, and the latest attempt to facilitate this transition comes in the form of a “digital movie card.” These look sort of like gift cards and are now found hanging around checkout aisles and entertainment sections of Walmart stores. The first film being distributed is “Battle: Los Angeles” which costs $14.96 for the card and, when redeemed, provides users with a standard definition copy of the film on any Vudu-enabled device. The service is an interesting reach into consumer’s homes, but a standard definition stream might not be enticing when the DVD is $16.96. Walmart is seeing if consumers prefer a digital copy for Vudu devices over a DVD that has a bit more mobility. It wouldn’t be surprising if the next movie trial comes with an HD copy instead of an SD copy.
Subscription music download service eMusic has reported no growth in subscribers over the last four years, according to its CEO Adam Klein. In an interview with Digital Music News, Klein said that the company does not predict any future growth and has previously not expected to see any growth in its service. Klein said that the average revenue per user is up 22% from six months ago, however, due largely in part to major labels joining the service as well as increases in its prices and an improved user interface. Digital Music News pegs eMusic’s current subscriber number at 400,000, which matches a variety of reports over the past few years.
Look around the Web and you’ll find coupons galore touting Father’s Day deals on the latest gadgets. One reason they seem to be just about everywhere is because CE spending for the holiday is expected to rise 13% compared to last year and see an average person spending $67.20 on Dad, reaching $1.3 billion in sales according to a survey from the National Retail Federation and BIGresearch. When looking at some major US chains, discounts apply to everything from smart TVs and grills to tablets (the Xoom and the iPad 2) and smartphones.
While Carbonite is among the kings of cloud backup, the most long-term backup solution requires a bit more sun. The Internet Archive project has announced a plan to store on physical copy of every published book in the world, including all those eBooks floating around. “Internet Archive is building a physical archive for the long-term preservation of one copy of every book, record and movie we are able to attract or acquire,” the company said. The two big reasons for making physical copies are so that there is an original to compare future versions to if there is a fidelity dispute, and that there are a lot of issues concerning digital storage for the long run. Beyond hackers and system failures, there are also unforeseen changes in the cloud that could occur, such as new filetypes, formats and hardware incompatibilities.
Need something to compliment that in-flight Wi-Fi? How about an in-flight tablet? Samsung and American Airlines (AA) have partnered to give select flights access to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. AA will equip 6,000 of its planes’ premium cabins with the tablets, replacing existing personal entertainment devices. Tablets will be available on flights between Boston and Los Angeles, Miami and Los Angeles, New York’s JFK and Los Angeles, and JFK and San Francisco.
Microsoft has been tightlipped on its plans for updating its Windows Phone platform, but the schedule for its major updates seems to have been leaked in a job posting. The job’s specifications outline a platform policy of one major update per year with an unspecified number of minor updates throughout the year. The position, entitled Program Manager, will be responsible for these minor updates.
After Apple requested to see Samsung’s announced smartphones and tablets as part of a copyright infringement lawsuit was granted by a judge, Samsung quickly attempted to turn the tables by requesting to see the unannounced iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 and iPad 3. Apple has responded to Samsung’s request by saying that it “is not a good faith attempt to obtain information needed to defend against a preliminary injunction,” the documents say. “Rather, it is a transparent and improper attempt to harass Apple by demanding extremely sensitive trade secrets that have no relevance to Apple’s infringement claims or to Samsung’s defenses to a preliminary injunction.” A judge will make a decision on Samsung’s request this Friday.
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