Iovine returns to public eye

JIMMY GETTIN’ BUSY: Jimmy Iovine has been very quiet since heading upstate to Apple six month ago, but that changed yesterday. First, during a talk at USC's Global Conversation, he said of the NFL banning Beats headphones because Bose is the league’s corporate sponsor, "We didn’t do anything, and now the players are going out and putting black tape on our logo. I can’t believe I’m this lucky. I feel like sending them the tape.” After slagging Bose for being “culturally inept” and praising Steve Jobs, Iovine colorfully rolled out the Beats creation myth for the first time. Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Interscope artist will.i.am credited Iovine with encouraging him to create the Puls wrist-worn device, which he unveiled at the Salesforce Dreamforce conference. Finally, Sean Combs announced that Iovine will be the keynote speaker at the hip-hop entrepreneur’s REVOLT Music Conference Gala this Saturday in Miami, during which he’s scheduled to give his first public statement about the future of the music business since joining Apple. “He is my hero,” Combs said of his former label head. (10/16a)