Apple Releases iTunes 11.1 Beta 1 With iTunes Radio to Developers

Apple has released iTunes 11.1 Beta 1 which includes the new iTunes Radio to developers for testing.

The beta is currently available for Mac only and can be downloaded from the link below...

Apple Adds Download Later Option for iTunes Purchases

Apple has updated the iTunes Store with a new download later option for purchases, reports MacWorld.

Specifically, the new download later option applies to the following:
● Season Passes and completed TV seasons
● Complete my TV season or complete my Season Pass
● Movie bundles
● Music box sets, individual movies, and TV episodes

When purchasing any of the above items using iTunes 11 on a Mac or Windows PC, or an iOS device running iOS 6 or later, you’re now presented with Later and Download (or Download All) buttons. Tap Later and the purchased items will be added to your iTunes account and accessible to stream or download in the future via Apple’s iTunes in the Cloud feature. It’s a handy feature if you, say, want to buy a movie on sale while you have a spotty data connection; you can make sure to get the cheaper price, then download the item when you get home—or even just play it from the cloud.

More details can be found at the support document posted by Apple on Friday.

LyricFlow Looks To Bring iTunes 11 Inspired Cover Flow Replacement

Eric Castro, the developer behind the popular music downloading app, MewSeek, has teased his upcoming tweak "LyricFlow"

The tweak looks to replace the current iOS (iPhone and iPod) coverflow that has not been refreshed since iOS 1.0. LyricFlow is highly inspired by the iTunes 11 album interface which changes interface colors based on the album artwork. The tweak also shows lyrics for each song in a nice, elegant way. 

In addition to the design changes and lyrics, LyricFlow still allows you to use the old coverflow system, along with tons of new effects. 

Today I am showing you one project I’ve been working on in these last few weeks, it’s called LyricFlow. It’s a CoverFlow replacement (hence, a Cydia tweak) highly inspired in iTunes 11 interface, that will show lyrics on screen in an elegant, minimalistic way.

You can still access CoverFlow and even customize the effect with something different for a fresh look, as Apple has forgotten to update this feature since the very first iOS release.

No word on release date or pricing yet.

iTunes Now Generating Apple Over $2 Billion Per Year in Profit?

Asymco analyst Horace Dediu takes a look at Apple's iTunes business in a new report "iTunes Business Review" which will soon be available for purchase through the Asymco Store.

In a recent blog post, Dediu offers some tidbits from the report. Notably, what's known as iTunes today has quintupled in seven years which is said to have brought some significant economies of scale. However, what has changed iTunes from a 'break-even' business to a profitable one is the inclusion of Apple Software.

My estimate is that Apple’s own software generated $3.6 billion in Revenues in 2012. As you can imagine, this is a high margin business which grows at nearly 20%/yr. Although I estimate that the software business has been overtaken by the Apps and Music businesses in gross revenues, it keeps an operating margin similar to that of Microsoft or about 50%.

This has lead Dediu to estimate a 15% operating margin on gross revenues when including Apple Software, for a profit of over $2 billion per year.

More details at the link below...