FTC Also Investigating Apple's Upcoming Music Streaming Service

[digitalrampage]

Rumors

I heard a rumour that the FTC is wasting millions of dollars investigating rumours.. Oh.. wait...

 

[diipii]

That Ive-Cook maggot is chewing up the good reputation Apple has grown.
It will take a long time, if ever, to grow it back.
Apple must return to making great computers instead of trying to convert us to its own myopic, fantasy land of greed, power and hype.

 

[actripxl]

I don't get why Apple bought beats, out of all the services I've tried before settling on spotify, Beats was by far the WORST. The interface is one of the worst UI's I've ever seen. It's completely obtuse and makes zero sense.

Beats is FAR from being the worst. Beats allows me to discover music without repeating the same songs over and over like Pandora.

It works just as well on iOS, Android, and WP through a uniform ui, unlike Xbox Music which sucks on iOS and android, not to mention it uses tribute bands as opposed to original artists.

 

[sshambles]

Good. Apple, I love you guys, but after hearing about the shady deals.. Yeah I can't support that.

Slim-shady deals

 

[thekeyring]

Why do record labels care what Apple charge?

Couldn't Apple say "Yeah, pay you x because we're charging $9.99" and then charge $7.99 anyway, and just absorb the loss?

Edit: Or even, if Apple can't afford to give Android users an app that makes a loss, make it $9.99 on Android? Or, even better, free on iPhone?

 

[NIKKG]

Apple is trying to put other streaming companies out of business through shady deals like this is wrong and illegal. They should be punished for it.

 

[thekeyring]

That Ive-Cook maggot is chewing up the good reputation Apple has grown.
It will take a long time, if ever, to grow it back.
Apple must return to making great computers instead of trying to convert us to its own myopic, fantasy land of greed, power and hype.

They still have a good reputation. This is more of the "Without Steve, they'll fail" BS.

Any bad reputation has come as much from headlines about how they treat workers, Samsung ads, or bad user experience, as from this kind of headline.

And, the last time I checked, they do still make great computers.

----------

Yes it's a rumor but it's got to have at the very least a portion of truth to it.

I heard a rumour you kick puppies - there must be some truth to it, right?

 

[iSee]

Wow. It's looking like the Beats acquisition is going to cost Apple more than $3B. Wonder how long Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre are going to last at Apple?

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I heard a rumour you kick puppies - there must be some truth to it, right?

It's not a rumor that 3 large government entities are investigating Apple for these behaviors. If 3 large government entities were investigating him for kicking puppies, I'd also buy his suggestion that there's probably some truth in that too.

 

[digitalrampage]

It's not a rumor that 3 large government entities are investigating Apple for these behaviors. If 3 large government entities were investigating him for kicking puppies, I'd also buy his suggestion that there's probably some truth in that too.

Hour 46 in the Simpson case - Homer sleeps in oxygen tent which he believes gives him sexual powers!

 

[iSee]

Yes it's a rumor but it's got to have at the very least a portion of truth to it. And it's not far fetched. But apple should be careful not to get evil and greedy less they suffer the same fate as Rome, er I mean Microsoft.

I wish I could find a good face-palm pic or gif for this occasion. But I'm on my phone and lazy so everyone just kinda imagine your favorite one.

This rumor (and rumors in general) could be 100% true, partially true, or not true at all. Nothing wrong with speculating -- this the Mac *Rumors* after all. But there certainly does not *have* to be a portion of truth to it.

 

[Number-Six]

Speaking of artists.... Can we plea STOP with the "starving artists" quotes when discussing this stuff? It's quite apparent that Taylor Swift, Jay Beyoncé, and Katy Perry are doing just fine. Sure, a few start up musicians may be starving but don't try and play the "poor them" card with these heavily compensated artists. They crap money. Cmon.

For the most part, these are not artists. They're performers.

 

[kemal]

Apple should drop tail and run from this ping. They can still sell the headphones.

 

[Keirasplace]

Apple is trying to put other streaming companies out of business through shady deals like this is wrong and illegal. They should be punished for it.

What shady deals? Paying more money to a supplier/artists something is "shady"?

 

[the8thark]

it's a rumor.

And it should be treated as such till more evidence comes to light.

 

[etrinh]

Lol at you guys. I thought Android has dominating market share. What Apple monopoly are some of you posters even talking about. Anyways, music is on the decline (paid downloads). Radio/steaming services are up. Apple isn't dumb. They need something to compete.

 

[digitalrampage]

And it should be treated as such till more evidence comes to light.

Damn straight. There is that whole caper of "Innocent until proven guilty" But I guess these days with the internet its "Probably guilty until proven innocent and then we probably still wonder if you bribed the FTC"

Come on people. Cut Apple some slack. If they've done something bad, then let them pay for it - if and when it affects someone. Not mindlessly squabble over the "what if".

 

[please22]

It's not a rumor that 3 large government entities are investigating Apple for these behaviors. If 3 large government entities were investigating him for kicking puppies, I'd also buy his suggestion that there's probably some truth in that too.

...No. An investigation is just that...an investigation. By itself it doesn't imply anything.

If you got swatted 3 times in a row, and each time the cops investigated the call, it doesn't mean that there's some truth that you might be shady.

Apple is being investigated. That's all you can conclude with the current relevant information. You're simply betraying your value claims trying to insist otherwise.

 

[bobob]

Really? I heard a rumor that viachicago22 kicks puppies. So, it has to have at least a portion of truth to it, because somebody wrote it on the internet.

Oh my gosh, I heard something about that from my cousin's coworker's veterinarian's daughter-in-law!

 

[apolloa]

Yep, I'm sure Tim Cook, Eddy Cue and Jimmy Iovine are sitting in a room somewhere thinking about how they can screw consumers. I'm sure that's the entire goal of this streaming music service - to screw consumers.

If all these government agencies are so concerned about what Apple might be doing why did they approve the beats deal in the first place?

Last time I checked Apple was a corporation with share holders. It has a duty to as said, work out new ways to get more of our cash, that's what a corporation does.

 

[AppleScruff1]

Hopefully this stuff about Apple's shady practices turn out to be false.

If they're true, it will make for some interesting times at MacRumors, that's for sure.

 

[phillipduran]

Yes it's a rumor but it's got to have at the very least a portion of truth to it. And it's not far fetched. But apple should be careful not to get evil and greedy less they suffer the same fate as Rome, er I mean Microsoft.

No, it could be completely false. There does not always have be some truth in all rumors. Some are complete BS. We just don't know about this one yet, but if it is true, it's not customer focused even if they say they "are going to provide a better service". People like the youtubes. Don't mess with it. I'm going to rage if my PvP playlist goes offline.

 

[thekeyring]

It's not a rumor that 3 large government entities are investigating Apple for these behaviors. If 3 large government entities were investigating him for kicking puppies, I'd also buy his suggestion that there's probably some truth in that too.

Relax. I wasn't trying to have a serious go - hence the wink.

Let's wait and see what the investigation concludes before we go nuts.

 

[Pilgrim1099]

there is so much about this story that tells us we need to wait (probably for months) before we can finally hear enough info (including from apple's perspective) in order for anybody to make a judgement.

the actions outlined in the rumor/article of course sound to be "predatory" (from a legal standpoint). but the nature of this leak's background is likely to have come from elements that support apple's competitors and not apple.

its of course very complicated and has parallels to iBooks.

in iBooks, Jobs was sure that the model in use by book publishers and amazon resulted in a fragmented industry that was not in the end good for the health of book publishing, and therefore in the end, also not good for consumers. i agree with that strategy (raising book prices to consumers) to elevate the book publishing industry as a whole. but in fact it is an illegal strategy in the way that apple went about it. the result is known: amazon won, the industry is hopelessly weak, there are less and less incentives to publish or take risk on marginal authors. and, the epub formats continue to not have real compatibility.
consumers have not benefitted from the US government enforced watchdog settlement.

so now this time with streaming: apple is again saying that for itself, and in general, the industry and concept itself to survive, that a monthly fee of USD 8 (or whatever it is) is not enough. and therefore apple would like to charge its customers USD 10 (for example).
this really makes me recall Jobs famous quote on camera to the question "why will publishers go with apple when it effectively raises prices to the customer" when he simply answered: "they just will" (or something very similar).

so now apple is trying the same approach with music streaming.

i happen to agree again with apple: with more and more adjustments to streaming flexibility, the streaming+++ model will be able to successfully break the "i want to own my music" mentality the more and more flexible the plans become and the more and more easier it becomes to play your music on any device you own at any time on demand.

i agree with apple that this kind of service is worth a premium. in the end, a slightly higher per month fee is acceptable if it has more added flexibility and usefulness to the consumer.

the question is: when apple is meeting with and negotiating with the music companies, in what way are they attempting to merely state their negotiating position and strategy, versus, trying to use their position within the music community (vis a vis iTunes store and download platform) to coerce music companies into buying into their vision.

this is where Mr. Eddie Cue again and again never fails to disappoint. He has not been successful for apple in any media related strategy during the past 5 years.

iTunes radio is a joke and limited. apple TV is a joke and limited. streaming has taken too long to get into action.

as a Beats-centric strategy evolves (as it is rumored), will the price that apple paid for it have been able to help apple evolve its music strategy into a long term viable new platform.

with Eddie in charge, I doubt it.

The problem is that many high powered music industry executives have pointed fingers at Tim Cook. If this is the case, he can't exercise plausible deniability for he gave the 'green light' to such decisions. Only he has the power to okay certain executive moves that VPs under him want to exercise.

Therefore, I do agree about Cue because, well, he was never on CUE with anything iTunes related. This fool and the Beats executives Dr. Dre and Iovine need to be accountable for what's done and along with Tim Cook.

Those four must go. There is no other way. The Board of Directors would be wise to get rid of them, replace them with more qualified people that won't cross the line.

I bet that Dr. Dre and Iovine influenced Cue and Cook to make these maneuvers in order to justify the expense of buying Beats into their fold.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

...No. An investigation is just that...an investigation. By itself it doesn't imply anything.

If you got swatted 3 times in a row, and each time the cops investigated the call, it doesn't mean that there's some truth that you might be shady.

Apple is being investigated. That's all you can conclude with the current relevant information. You're simply betraying your value claims trying to insist otherwise.

They don't open investigations into every possible wrongdoing rumored or not. The guy was basically arguing "where there's smoke...". Whether Apple is guilty or not guilty of something is determined much later but that 3 government entities are all opening investigations does- IMO- imply that they have reasonable cause to take a good look at this. There's certainly many thousands of other potential things to investigate too, but these entities don't arbitrarily or randomly choose what to investigate. There's always reasonable cause to open such an investigation.

At the end, it may turn out that Apple was entirely angelic in all such actions undertaken along these lines. But the guy wasn't convicting Apple of a crime, just saying that there is probably something there... to which I'm inclined to agree given that there are 3 Gov entities investigating. I'm also not saying Apple is guilty of anything... just disappointed that they may be involved in something warranting several Gov entities having to get involved as part of protecting us consumers. Personally, I'd much rather see Apple putting their considerable intellect and capable hands toward the real "future" and new rather than trying to monetize the free & cheap into "premium" via good or bad business practices.