Hasta La Gadget!

A few weeks back we heard rumors that Apple mulling over a mobile payments service. A sources familiar with the company’s plans claims that “Their ambitions are very, very serious.” It has reportedly been interviewing senior payments industry executives as part of the plan to build this business. According to one source Apple seeks to fill two new positions, the head of product and head of business development, for the mobile payments service.

Re/code also hears from these sources that the company’s long-time e-commerce head Jennifer Bailey is leading this initiative. She is said to have already met with potential candidates for these two posts. Select candidates will be tasked with building a business around hundreds of millions of credit cards that are already on file. Apple itself has said in the past that majority of its over 600 million iTunes accounts have a credit card on file.

Due to this, Apple’s new service may very well become the biggest payment service the very day it launches. It won’t even have to wait for new users to sign up. It will presumably allow account holders to pay for physical products in apps as well as on the internet through their iOS devices. Apple is reportedly also considering letting users pay for purchases in physical retail stores.

It was reported back in January that PayPal wanted to partner up with Apple on this service. A source claims that both companies have been engaged in talks but details of these talks are not yet known. When contacted by the scribe, a spokesperson for Apple declined to comment.

Apple Reportedly ‘Very Serious’ About Mobile Payments Service , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Apple, itunes, paypal,

The first generation Apple TV has been around for several years now and lots of the devices are in use around the world. Reports are surfacing that issues have prevented … Continue reading

Following an update today for its iPhone app, Beats Music is now accepting new subscriptions using Apple’s iTunes billing system. The reason revolves around the high number of iPhone users … Continue reading

Just the other day we reported that Apple could be working on revamping its iTunes Music Store, whether or not that will be happening remains to be seen, but thanks to a new rumor via a source who spoke to music blogger, Robert Hutton, it seems that this could indeed be happening and one of the changes Apple could be making is to offer up higher quality music downloads.

According to the report, Apple could start hosting lossless 24-bit audio files as early as June, and that Apple has apparently been asking labels to provide them with music files in 24-bit format for the past few years, with either 96k or 192k sampling rates. Hutton also states that the kick off to the launch will begin with the Led Zeppelin remasters. Apple is also rumored to be charging users $1 extra if users wish to purchase audio files in higher quality.

At the moment Apple’s iTunes Store offers relatively high quality files for listening, although audiophiles would most probably prefer formats like FLAC which is compatible with more media players. For those unfamiliar, such formats are considered to be “lossless” meaning that when music files are converted from audio sources such as CDs, it does not lose the quality versus “lossy” formats like MP3, APE, AAC, and more.

Apple has their own lossless format also known as ALAC although some argue that it is not as efficient as FLAC, although the upside is that if you own an iOS device or listen to music via iTunes, it will be compatible with it. In fact a couple of years ago Apple launched a “Mastered for iTunes” section in which the songs offered would be of a higher quality, higher than AAC.

Of course it should be noted that these high quality audio files might not be very noticeable by the average listener, not to mention if you truly want to get the best sound possible, there are other factors to take into consideration, like your sound system setup where a pair of $30 speakers will definitely not be able to cut it. However for audiophiles who have always felt that the iTunes Store lacked high quality audio, perhaps this will finally appease them.

High Definition Audio Files Coming To iTunes In June [Rumor] , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Apple, Audio, Rumors, itunes, music,

Earlier in the week, we brought you word that Apple intends to raise the prices in its iTunes App Store in select regions so that those will be on par with changes in foreign exchange rates. The five affected regions will include Australia, India, Indonesia, Turkey, and South Africa, while Israel and New Zealand will see select price tiers decreased. That day has arrived, in Australia at least, where apps that used to cost A$0.99 on the Australian iTunes App Store will now be 30% more expensive at A$1.29.

(more…)

Apple App Prices Raised Already By Up To 30% In Australia original content from Ubergizmo.