Tag: Business

Apple explores new music options – iTunes Pass

depeche.png

This is what I like to see – innovative new ways of buying music that encourages people to actually spend money on bands they love. Venturebeat reports that Apple is experimenting with something called iTunes Pass, which allows fans to buy a pass for a certain group or artist and then get everything that artist releases for a given time period.

Apple’s piloting it with Depeche Mode. You can buy a pass for $19 and you’ll get the band’s new single right now, the album when it comes out, and some other exclusive tracks too. You’ll also get any videos and artwork that the band puts out before June 16th, which is when the pass expires.

All the content you get is DRM-free, though it will show up in Apple’s AAC format. Apple also guarantees that the value of the pass won’t exceed the value of the individual items, so you’re getting a good deal however you look at it.

For my favourite bands, I’d definitely sign up for this. For stuff I’m less excited about, I wouldn’t, but that’s not really the point of the scheme. It’s about making fans feel special, giving bands a greater connection to those people, and maybe actually making some money off music again. Good work, Apple.

Is it something you’d use? What bands would you sign up for if they were offered? Let us know in the comments.

(via Venturebeat)

Duncan Geere Digital Music

MWC 2009: Acer unveils its "Tempo" range of smartphones

acer-tempo-series.jpg

Acer, unbeknownst to me, is actually the third largest global PC maker and lately, after the success of their netbook – the Aspire One, they’ve been announcing some smartphone ambitions. Well, those ambitions are coming to fruition in the form of the “Tempo” series of smartphones, pictured above.

First up is the M900. It’s business-focused, coming with Windows Mobile 6.1, Outlook Mobile and Office Mobile all pre-installed. There’s HSDPA, a 3.8″ WVGA touchscreen, GPS, FM radio, a 5-megapixel camera and a fingerprint scanner for security purposes. There’s also a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Nice. Next!

The F900 is more consumer-oriented, and designed for internet usage. Theres the same 3.8″ WVGA touchscreen as the M900, GPS, a 3.2-megapixel camera, FM radio, HSDPA, and Wi-Fi. It’s got the new Mobile IE6, too. Unfortunately there’s no keypad – everything is done onscreen.

Then there’s the X960, which is a little lower-end. It’s got a 2.8″ VGA touchscreen, nav button, Outlook and Office mobile, GPS, and a 3.2 megapixel camera. That’s all we’ve got for specs right now – but I’m presuming there’s some 3G involved. I would hope so, anwyay.

Lastly, there’s the dual-SIM DX900. It supports both 3.5G and 2.75G SIM cards, so that you can have a business SIM and a personal SIM in one phone. On top of that there’s a 2.8″ VGA touchscreen, “3D animated icons”, a dedicated flight mode button, 3.2-megapixel camera and Outlook mobile preinstalled.

So, overall then, a varied bunch of middling-spec phones, more targeted at the business end of the market than the consumer end.No word on release dates, but my wildest guess would be Q2. No word on pricing, either, but as these are business phones, you can expect them to come with some sort of bulk discount for companies.

Duncan Geere Gadget Shows, Mobile phones, MWC 2009