Morning Report: Apple's Latest Acquisitions, Retina MacBook Refresh Incoming

Are you a grandfathered unlimited data user on Verizon Wireless? If so, you may soon find your favorite carrier slowing your roll on data consumption. GigaOM reported Friday that Verizon plans to throttle LTE speeds for heavy data users effective October 1, an effort to target the top five percent of users consuming 4.7GB or more each month. The new policy will only affect customers who haven't renewed their contract within the last two years, with customers being notified of the change next week. Speaking of changes, read on to find out how Verizon customers will be able to use their early upgrade program at an Apple store later this year...

Apple Pulling Out Checkbook for Swell, BookLamp Acquisitions

Cupertino's in an acquisition mood again, with TechCrunch reporting Friday that Apple has confirmed a buyout of BookLamp, an Idaho-based analytics service billed as the "Pandora of books." A source claims the deal was “higher than $10 million, and lower than $15 million," although the new owner wouldn't say more than the obligatory "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."

The buying spree continued over the weekend, with Re/code reporting Sunday that Apple is also apparently close to purchasing Swell, a news and podcast app with a simplistic user interface aimed at commuters. Coincidentally billed as "Pandora for talk radio," the deal is said to be worth about $30 million, and will see the Swell app shut down later this week and presumably close up shop on the planned Android version.

Minor Retina MacBook Pro Refresh Expected Tomorrow

MacRumors today reported that Apple may be poised to release a minor spec bump for the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display models on Tuesday, July 29. Over the weekend, in-store signage from an Apple retail store in China revealed at least the 15-inch model will be updated across the board with Haswell processors clocked at 200 MHz faster than the current models, with the low-end base model bumped from 8GB to 16GB RAM. Tuesday is historically when Apple chooses to release new Mac products, so keep your eyes peeled tomorrow morning if you're in the market for a new MacBook Pro.

Apple Retail Expanding into Carrier Early Upgrade Programs

9to5Mac reported Sunday that Apple retail stores will soon allow customers to purchase iPhones using the early upgrade plans of U.S. carriers. AT&T Next, Verizon Edge, and T-Mobile Jump are all expected to kick off as part of a pilot program in late August, presumably ahead of the iPhone 6 coming this fall. Employee training for the program is expected to take place between August 10 and August 28, but is not yet expected to support Sprint's own variation, known as OneUp.

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