Apple confirms $3bn deal for Dr Dre’s Beats May 28, 2014 APPLE announced yesterday that it is snapping up Beats Electronics, an audio firm famed for its headphones, for $3bn (£1.8bn). Beats founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre will join Apple as the technology and computer giant takes over their firm, which is known for its iconic headphones. The deal will worth $2.6bn immediately with another [...]
Apple rumoured to be close to unveiling Jetson-style home automation platform May 27, 2014 Remember the Jetsons? Their home was filled with a variety of push-button, space age, automated conveniences. Fifty years on and the fantasy could soon be another step closer, as Apple takes its biggest stride yet into the "internet of things". According to the FT, the electronics titan is preparing a new software platform that’d turn [...]
Google takes a bite out of Apple as world’s most valuable brand May 20, 2014 GOOGLE has dethroned Apple as the world’s most valuable brand, as its total value soared to nearly $160bn (£95bn) this year, according to new global research. The online search giant’s rise is due to its booming financial performance – Google’s revenues last quarter grew nearly 20 per cent to $15.42bn – and Apple’s lack of [...]
Why Tuesday is Apple’s favourite day for announcements May 13, 2014 Today could be the day Apple confirms its $3.2bn takeover of Beats Electronics, in fact Apple is more likely to make the announcement today, a Tuesday, than any other day. This is because the iPhone-maker has a record of making its announcements on Tuesdays. In the last 15 months we’ve seen the overwhelming majority of [...]
Apple’s new retail chief Angela Ahrendts in $68m signing bonus May 6, 2014 BURBERRY’S former chief executive Angela Ahrendts started her new role as the head of retail at Apple yesterday, receiving a share award from the American tech giant worth $68m (£40m). Ahrendts’ award of 113,334 restricted shares coincided with Apple’s share price pushing past $600 yesterday morning for the first time since October 2012. However, when [...]
Facebook and Apple defy the tech critics April 23, 2014 TECHNOLOGY giants Facebook and Apple silenced talk of a tech bubble last night as they trumped all expectations, both delivering record earnings for the first quarter of 2014. Facebook’s booming mobile advertising business led the social network to revenues of $2.5bn (£1.5bn) in the quarter, above the expected $2.36bn, and profit of $642m, up more [...]
Amazon to challenge Apple with $99 fire TV April 2, 2014 AMAZON will enter the living room with a video streaming set top box called Fire TV. Chief executive Jeff Bezos described the rival to Apple TV as a: “Tiny box, huge specs, tons of content, incredible price”. It will pipe movies and TV shows directly from Amazon’s video service onto TV. No UK release date [...]
Why did Apple just release a cheaper iPhone 5c? March 18, 2014 Apple added a brand new iPhone to its lineup today, but before you get too excited it’s only a marginally tweaked iPhone 5c with a reduced 8GB of storage (the previous entry model had 16GB). The impact of this change shaves £40 off the 16GB version and brings Apple’s cheapest new iPhone down to £429 [...]
Visa swipes top spot for business brands from Apple February 24, 2014 BRITISH firms have chosen Visa as the best brand for business services, knocking tech firm Apple off the top spot, a poll out today reveals. Visa topped a survey of 2,000 companies and was joined by several other payment companies in the higher reaches of the Superbrands UK league table. Superbrands said the shift in [...]
Where’s Jony? Apple designer Ive goes offline February 17, 2014 APPLE’S chief design wizard Sir Jony Ive sent the tech world into a spin yesterday when he disappeared from the company’s online list of executives. The Apple rumour mill went into overdrive: “Has he been poached by Microsoft?” “Has he quit over the Flappy Bird clone ban?” “Has he moved back to the UK to [...]