Photo: Apple

So it seems that Apple is stirring up the rumour mill with their latest acquisition of a trademark for the name, ‘iTunes Live’. What Steve Jobs and co intend to do with the trademark is still uncertain, but putting together the puzzle from Apple’s acquisition of La-La iTunes could be in for a major revamp.

Real-time live concerts

So far all the speculation is pointing at Apple either incorporating streaming live concerts into iTunes or increasing the amount of pre-recorded live content which is already available on the music app. iTunes’ taking the live route seems to be more the plausible road for Apple to take and would be better for the public, who could then choose between watching real-time live concerts on either YouTube or what will then be known as ‘iTunes Live’.

More speculation

Photo: Apple

As everything currently stands, all that we know is that the trademark falls under two categories. The first being, ‘Online retail store services in the field of entertainment featuring prerecorded musical, audio and audiovisual content’. And the second category being, ‘Entertainment services, namely, arranging and conducting of concerts and live musical performances’. This still doesn’t give an idea of what’s cooking at Apple, but definitely points in the live concert direction which we mentioned earlier.

Shhh…

Apple has done an incredible job of keeping the filing of this trademark under wraps, with PatentlyApple.com which keeps track of any patents filed for by Apple even missing a step until recently on this one. This may be due to Steve Jobs and the rest of the Apple family wanting to get one up on Spotify before it even launches in the States, but whatever the reason we can’t wait.

When the details of iTunes Live are finally released to the public, it’s definitely going to stir up a lot noise, but for now all we can do is wait and hope for the best.

Photo: Apple

Turn the lights down low, draw the curtains, check the surveillance cameras and now finally access your iTunes playlist through a URC Network Series remote control. Universal Remote Control are now making it easier for those with automated homes to be even lazier and stay entertained with their latest addition of the Apple Music app control for their devices.

Change the music from anywhere in the home

Photo: Apple

The newly added music app will be added for the MX-6000 Color Touch Screen, MX-5000 Wand Touch Screen Remote and KP-4000 In-Wall Touch Screen. This will allow owners of the Network Series to remotely control iTunes through their PC, Mac or Apple TV via wireless connection through Apple’s Airport Express or even a cable connection. URC have developed the app to be easily accessible and hassle-free with no IR control necessary and users merely being able to switch to iTunes and browse through the cover art interface. But if users want to only change something small like the volume, the controller will adjust the audio level using radio frequencies.

Making it faster

According to Universal Remote Control’s Vice President for Technology, Eric Johnson, this latest addition to the URC Network Series is all about making it a whole lot quicker for URC users to access iTunes in addition to the 16 applications that URC already offers to its users. It’s getting rid of the traditional scavenge for music and adding an even simpler audio entertainment edge to home entertainment. All that we can hope is that Apple also embraces this move by URC and doesn’t change anything which may compromise the functioning of the app in the near future.

Universal Remote Control have been known for taking big steps in home automation and this latest addition though seemingly small and promoting convenience more than anything, could become what swings potential customers from the competition to the URC Network Series.

Photo: Facebook

Facebook Connect, astutely called the ‘plumbing of the social web’, is set for a massive integration with one of the Internet’s biggest services, iTunes.

iTunes connected

iTunes is said to be integrating Facebook Connect into its service, according to a report on TechCrunch.com. This makes sense, considering how iTunes have been leveraging their presence on Facebook, particularly their fan page, to connect with users, as well as the song sharing via Facebook (and Twitter) feature it introduced late last year. Apple has also had previous relations with Facebook with the built-in image uploader found in iPhoto, meaning this social web partnership could be a cinch to pull off.

Why this is a big deal

Photo: Apple

If the rumours are indeed true, this will give Facebook an almost unquestioned lead (and entrenched dominance) in social networking. iTunes is the biggest digital marketplace in the world, as well as the biggest record store in the world, acting as a storefront for all things iPhone, iPad and iPod related. This would mean Facebook will get free exposure on a site frequented by many paying customers, which if leveraged well, could have great revenue implications.

Facebook Connect explained

Photo: hi5

Facebook, in case you didn’t know – doubtful as that may be – is a social network service with over 400 million active users. In its demanding users to use their real names to sign up for the service, the company has been able to get legitimate information on a huge percentage of the Internet using population.

To cement their lead, the company built what is known as Facebook Connect, a little widget for the social web any website owner can put on their site to allow users to connect to that site with their Facebook details. This has been implemented in commenting for blogs, or authorisation for various other websites that require you give personal information.

And, insofar as Facebook Connect keeps getting adopted by more and more big players, MySpace, hi5 and other social networks will be forced to play for scraps.

Photo: Amazon

It was recently reported that the Amazon Kindle eBooks pricing of $9.99 crumbled due in no small part to Apple. Apple promised publishers it would support an alternative pricing model to Amazon’s that came with a pricing ceiling of $14.99. In doing so, Apple undermined Amazon’s Kindle pricing strategy.The Market-maker Kills the Market-maker.

Amazon, until recently, was the market-maker in this industry, with what is believed to be over 80% of the eBook pie. What they were attempting to do by pricing bestselling eBooks at $9.99 was to  follow on in the footsteps of Apple’s offering of songs on iTunes at $0.99, so as to encourage publishers and users to favour their Kindle device. The long-term goal was the consolidation of power, in an attempt to eventually be the unassailable leader in the digital books business, much like Apple did with iTunes and the music business.

Photo: Apple

Book publishers knew what Apple had done to the record business and were afraid of the same outcome with Amazon at the helm of eBooks. Then Apple appeared on the scene. With an alternative retailer who could in the short term mean loss of income, but in the long term more profits, publishers pushed back against Amazon and made their own prices, with threats to remove content if not adhered to. Amazon balked, the publishers flocked to this new pricing and with that Kindle’s eBook hegemony ended.

Why Did Apple Do This?

Apple is, in Steve Jobs’ own words, the “world’s largest mobile devices company“, so their goal is to sell portable devices. The iBook store, to this effect, is a mere means of selling more iPads. This, if one remembers, is the same for iTunes, which has been a vehicle for selling iPods. Amazon, on the other hand, is a retailer whose Kindle business is to sell content. Thus, Apple’s willingness to cannibalize content – at a decent profit, mind you – in the interest of selling more mobile devices butted heads with Amazon’s content-focused business.

Where to for Amazon

Amazon’s response in the coming weeks will be telling. They’ve acquired a start-up touchscreen technology company, meaning that the Kindle Touch is an inevitable development. Even then, what are the competitive advantages of a touchscreen device that does one thing, compared to the flexibility of the iPad? One cannot rule Amazon out, though, considering they revolutionized not just an industry but how people shop altogether with their online store. The difference, this time, is that they’re up against a strong competitor.

As for the publishers, they would do well to question if Apple is really the solution they think it is.

The upcoming Blackberry Bold gets an all new musical companion with Apple iTunes. It is the first RIM (Research in Motion) phone which enables an Apple’s digital media player application. The player also syncs music through the iTunes. By supporting the Windows Live Services, RIM made easy messaging and e-mail accessing easier. Blackberry Bold becomes the first non-Apple device that supports compatibility with Apple iTunes.

This feature is only available on this version of Blackberry, because of a Blackberry Media Sync. This tool enables the purchased iTunes to work on your Blackberry 9000 Bold with the inbuilt speakers that offer an even better sound quality than you will get from the iPhone speakers. iTunes still functions in the same manner, where you have to purchase music first before downloading. Could this be a development that will help the Bold rival the iPhone? Possibly, however, the iPhone’s strengths are more than just iTunes. Nevertheless it is definitely an interesting and positive development for the Blackberry Bold.

A changing sales procedure prevents buying without a contract. It was previously only sensible to unlock iPhones if the buyer could procure the mobile phone without completing a contract. According to recent rumours, this sales practice is now going to be changed: now unlocking the iPhone is really only something to do for fun.

Apple wants to change their sales methods. The device is not to be handed out, at least in the US and UK, without a simultaneous contract signing. Apple’s partner in the US is AT&T, and O2 in the UK. O2’s webpage states that the iPhone has to be activated at home using iTunes.

According to rumours, the new activation system should begin at the same time as the iPhone 3G’s market introduction. If the customers buy their iPhone in an AT&T shop, then the activation must take place immediately in the shop. On the other hand, when purchasing the mobile at the Apple Store it can also be activated at home via iTunes. Of course no one will receive the device in the first place, without first signing the contract.