Blue Meanies to Welcome Apple CEO to Pepperland?
by John Paczkowski
Posted on March 10, 2008 at 12:01 AM PT
Looks like the long and winding road that leads to the iTunes Store may disappear after all.
With their trademark dispute over the “Apple” brand finally settled and the solo work of Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney already for sale on iTunes, Apple (AAPL) and the Beatles’ Apple Corps. are rumored to be negotiating a business alliance that will bring the Fab Four’s remastered back catalog to the digital music store–for a sum of as much as $600 million.
Reports of the deal have the Beatles’ back catalog arriving on iTunes “within months,” perhaps even accompanied by a special edition “Yellow Submarine” iPod. That said, they should all be taken with a grain of salt–if not an entire salt flat. Apple has already dismissed them as “unsubstantiated speculation.” “This is not news, nor is it a scoop,” an Apple spokesman told Billboard.
Perhaps. Perhaps not. Discussing a potential iTunes deal with Billboard.com last November, McCartney said “it’s down to fine-tuning, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be happening next year, 2008.”
