SKUL

On the same day Apple (AAPL) announced the purchase of Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion, Reuters reported that a Taiwanese media source stated that Apple will release the next iteration of the iPhone in August, one month earlier than expectations. The $3.2 billion purchase price of headphone maker and music-streaming service Beats is economically-neutral from our standpoint, and in the context of its massive share repurchase program and the firm’s $500 billion market capitalization, the net impact of the transaction is effectively immaterial. In any case, the deal will bolster Apple’s music offering in the face of growing competition from Pandora (P), Spotify, Rhapsody, and Google’s (GOOG) YouTube, and give it a platform to drive a streaming and subscription-based business … Read more