Apple planning Beatles announcement for Super Bowl?

Apple is planning a special announcement for the Super Bowl that may herald a major music agreement, according to a source speaking to the Toronto Sun. Potentially corroborating the unconfirmed report of an impending Beatles launch on Valentine's Day, the source claims that Apple will use the February 4th football event to air an ad announcing the availability of at least some of The Beatles' remastered catalog on iTunes just ten days later. CD versions of the albums are only likely to be available by June, the newspaper says.

The move would be uncharacteristic for Apple, which has generally refrained from producing its own Super Bowl ads since the failure of the "Lemmings" ad in 1985. The company allowed a slight exception as part of its 100 million-song giveaway promotion with Pepsi in 2004, though the ads were produced by the soft drink maker with only minimal involvement from Apple itself.