Wednesday Apple Rumors: Apple Trims Beats Electronics Purchase Price

by Christopher Freeburn | May 28, 2014 12:04 pm

Here are your Apple rumors[1] and AAPL news items for today:

[2]Discount: Sources tell the New York Post that Apple (AAPL[3]) plans to pay less than previously reported[4] to acquire Beats Electronics. Word of the deal — which would be Apple’s largest merger — surfaced earlier this month. Apple was widely reported to be closing in on an agreement to purchase the headphone maker and subscription streaming music service operator for $3.2 billion. However, recent reports indicated that the deal’s official announcement had been delayed due to last minute negotiations, which were complicated by leaks about the merger, including one from Beats co-founder Dr. Dre. Those leaks were said to have upset the normally security-conscious Apple. The Post says that a deal will finally be announced this week, but that Apple will pay just $3 billion for Beats. The lower valuation for Beats may be due to a report that its premium streaming service has just 111,000 subscribers, far behind rivals like Spotify. Apple has reportedly come under increased pressure to launch its own subscription music service from record labels. One source noted that while Apple is looking to get an established subscription service, Beats hardware division is by far the more valuable business unit. Other rumors have indicated that Apple is looking to acquire Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine, a long-time music industry deal maker to boost its negotiating position with record labels and other content providers.

Revealed: Apple may launch its next-generation iPhone[5] on Sept. 19, AppleInsider notes. That is the date that Deutsche Telekom has told its support representatives to expect the launch of the iPhone 6 in Germany. The date may simply be an estimate by the German telecommunication carrier, but it would be follow Apple’s September iPhone launch schedule that began with the iPhone 5 in 2012. Germany is usually among the first countries included in an iPhone launch.

Secure: The iPhone 5s’ TouchID fingerprint scanner will be featured on all new iOS devices this year[6], MacRumors notes. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that Apple will include the fingerprint reader in upcoming iPads — the iPad Air 2 and the iPad Mini 2 with Retina Display — to be released later this year. Kuo predicts “unit sales of the fingerprint sensor module to grow 233% to 120mn for 2014.” While Apple will need to produce a lot more of the TouchID modules this year, Kuo expects Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM[7]) to continue producing the fingerprint sensors for Apple. Recent rumors indicate that Apple is planning to establish a mobile payments system based around iTunes. Many analysts considered the introduction of the TouchID fingerprint sensor as a precursor to the launch of an Apple mobile payments service.

For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors stories.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2014/05/wednesday-apple-rumors-apple-trims-beats-electronics-purchase-price/

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