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Apple Reportedly Buying Beats Electronics For $3.2 Billion
An anonymous reader writes "Multiple publications report that Apple is undertaking its biggest acquisition ever, buying Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion. The deal would give Apple control over the popular 'Beats by Dre' headphones as well as a new music streaming service. Analysts suggest the headphones will open up a new series of product lines for Apple, while the streaming service will jumpstart its efforts to compete with Pandora and Spotify, as iTunes' growth slows. 'If Apple wanted to, it could certainly have built a streaming subscription service itself; the company had been floating the notion of one with label executives in recent months. But it's possible that Apple's most recent attempts to extend its music business beyond the iTunes store helped convince Cook that he was better off getting outside help.' The deal hasn't been completed yet, but a candid video of Dr. Dre was posted to Facebook in which he appeared to confirm it."
Make a good match for each other.
For overpriced technically inferior headphones to listen to compressed to hell music.
Wake me when apple gets a quality pair of headphones and at least cd quality loss-less without DRM.
No sir I dont like it.
Artificially-inflated bass crap. Do yourself a favor a get yourself a pair of real studio reference headphones like the venerable Sony MDR-7509s (for a lot less money too) if you want to hear what your music really sounds like. There's a reason that studios around the globe use these and not fuckin' Beats. Beats are a fashion accessory, not a critical listening device.
Dre's gonna be the first hip-hop billionaire.
Best Slashdot Co
"Thing Thugs Will Beat You For" for $200 Alex.
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1> Apple products are the what the thugs want around here, most only threaten or beat you, some use hand guns.
2> Those beats headphones got popular and are now being targeted by thugs.
3> Apple see's another market for repeat (re-beat?) customers.
4> Profit!
No brain, no pain.
No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
-H.L. Mencken (paraphrased)
Because thats all Beats has ever been. The problem apple faces is that Dr. Dre is fast becoming Dr. Grey. in his last 5-10 years hes only made small guest vocal appearances on the behalf of his label members. his most famous songs, 'nuthin but a g thang' for example came out 20 years ago. so while the turtlenecks running apple might remember him from their kegger days in college it has yet to be seen if anyone born after 2000 will even care. Beats in cellular technology and tablets is powered, from what i can guess, by Cowon (a taiwanese manufacturer of high regard for their sound chips and DSP at a very competitive price.) The headphone line originally came from Monster Cable, but now is cranked off the same assembly in mainland china that produces most every other headphone in existence.
FWIW, If i were apple, i would have marketed a competing brand based on someone like Deadmau5 or Skrillex or Knife Party or any other band actual kids listen to. As an added benefit, these artists already heavily plug and leverage Apple as a brand.
Good people go to bed earlier.
I don't understand this deal yet, but my problem isn't with Beats headphones being a "rip off". That's not the issue for me. The larger issue for me is, I don't see why Apple couldn't have simply produced their own rip-off headphones if they wanted to, or their own music streaming service. They have the technical ability. They have the design and marketing talent. So what are they getting out of the deal?
I would imagine that this is either a waste of money, or there's some other calculation. Like maybe record labels have been trying to bend Apple over a barrel when they ask for streaming rights, and in this deal, Apple acquires the streaming rights that Beats had, thereby side-stepping the deal. Or maybe Apple looked at the organization and thought it was a good team as a whole, and rather than trying to steal the employees away one-by-one, they thought it was better to purchase them outright. There's always the explanation that they were buying the customer base, but I'm not sure that'll hold once they rebrand and integrate-- and I would be surprised if they didn't rebrand and integrate it into their existing products/services.
I don't know. Does anyone have info here that would shed light on the real motivation? Or has Apple just started buying random businesses because they're profitable, without a larger strategic plan?
With Apple buying Beets, they're set to dominate the produce market!