Apple Announces $3 Billion Beats Acquisition, Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre Joining the Company

[avanpelt]

Eddy said tonight that Apple has been thinking about subscription music for a long time.

Not sure why they had to think about it for a long time. I've been streaming music on various services for years -- many years if we're counting Pandora. Apple could've started streaming their entire iTunes catalog and charging me $25 a month to stream as much as I wanted and I would've gladly paid that a year or two ago.

However, I'm now paying Spotify $5 a month for unlimited streaming on my Mac. I'm quite confident that Apple won't be willing to come close to that price so they had better offer a compelling reason for me to switch to their offering when it arrives and pay more. And no, Siri integration on the phone and "mood" playlists are not good enough reasons for me, personally, to switch.

 

[vekka]

I have liked most Apple's products so far but now it starts to look a bit worrying.

No new products in Q1 or Q2 and then this hugely overpriced acquisition of, let's face it, crappy headphones (bass, bass bass..).

Apple's days as innovative quality brand are over?

 

[flat five]

You are right sir, I suppose I am guilty myself for buying them LEGO's lol
What I find funny though is when driving to work through tough/poorer neighbourhoods thats where I see most of the Beats. I guess people skip meals in order to have Beats.

$300 is something a kid would usually get as a gift.. not just a 'i want that now'..

say 25million teens in america.. ~70,000 birthdays per day + an additional 20million chances on 1225 to make a sale..

——
the "tough/poorer neighbourhoods thats where I see most of the Beats" thing is anecdotal.. likewise-- i see beats' store in soho.. a block from apple's first nyc store.. i mostly see beats on subways and busses— on females (or maybe i just remember seeing the girls more often).

 

[jwdsail]

Why?

Why?

Apple already makes/sells headphones people hate the sound of that fall apart with minimal use/abuse. Why buy a company that is equal in being panned for bad quality?

Why?

For the streaming service? Yes, because the current fad of *renting* music for "only" $100/yr will never be figured out as the huge scam on music consumers it really is... Apple couldn't put together an iTunes music renting service to take advantage of the suckers for less than $3bill? Really???

Sigh.

Yes, the people. But, how well are all the people going to get along with Apple and its internal culture, mainly one of secrecy? Based on the leaks, not well. This looks like a troubled marriage before the rehearsal dinner is over.

Shrug.

I really hope there's some other, bigger, motive here we're not seeing. Something that will make this look like Apple sees the chess board 7 or 8 steps ahead of everyone else.. Usually, I can see at least some *hint* of chessmaster-like strategy from Apple's odder moves.. I just can't see any here.

 

[Mak47]

ugh....I don't see this being a good thing. These are not the people Apple should be associating with. They are part of the music industry. Apple shouldn't be buying into the industry, they should be tearing the industry apart.

Iovine is arguably the most powerful man in the music industry. With this he becomes an Apple employee. What better way to disrupt an industry than to subvert it from the top down?

Beyond that, Apple has already torn the music industry apart. It's completely broken and has been for years.

Iovine as an Apple employee will actually help put the pieces back together into something new with a focus on modern technology and distribution systems. It's excellent news, especially for anyone who's heard Iovine talk about what he wants the Beats music service to accomplish. With Apple as the backbone he'll actually be able to do it.

The only thing the headphones have to do with any of this is paying for it. When it's all over, the music industry will be completely changed, and from what I understand it'll be for the better.

 

[Yotsuba]

Performance from Dr. Dre at the end of WWDC. That'd be something to see.

 

[Mycoolroy]

This is the first time I think the cliche is actually true. I don't think this would have happened under Jobs. He would have insisted that their culture is irreproachable and they need not import another company to make a positive culture shift. I wouldn't say I admired that arrogance, but it was always entertaining to see the confident proclamation that they make the best products, no questions asked.

I'll second that, without Steve I honestly feel that Apple really has lost its way. Apple will have to do a lot at wwdc to keep me as a customer. And if the big surprise is Dr. Dre walking out on stage... Yeah thats just not gonna do it for me unless tim cook WANTS me to go to android in which case he is doing the exact right thing. it would be nice to see if people Boo though. Tim Cook is really ruining the the culture that Apple built and I despise him for it because I really love what Apple had going. I really miss Steve's vision.

 

[Azzin]

Image

Is that an iWatch that Tim's wearing!?

 

[Azzin]

You're not kidding!

I want to see AAPL stock hit $800 by this time next year and the dividend bump up to $5 per share along with way more buy back action.

Well, according to Eddy Cue at yesterday's re/code interviews:

“We’ve got the best product pipeline that I’ve seen in my 25 years at Apple,”

Cue told Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg at the inaugural Code Conference.

http://recode.net/2014/05/28/apple-has-best-product-lineup-best-in-25-years-says-content-chief/

 

[flat five]

No kids, Apple buying beats does not make them "better" or "more cool."

yeah maybe, but, hiring dr.dre does make them 'more cool'.
without a doubt

 

[Karma*Police]

Eddy said tonight that Apple has been thinking about subscription music for a long time.

I guess that's the difference between someone with vision and everyone else. The visionary has the conviction and will to make his idea a reality. Eddie just thought about it along with the rest of us.

 

[Sharkey311]

yeah maybe, but, hiring dr.dre does make them 'more cool'.
without a doubt

My love for Apple just shot up considerably. Dr. Dre has always been my #1 favorite artist/producer in hip hop.

 

[Polansky]

3 Billion down the drain!
Worst acquisition ever.

But the best has still to come according to apple..

Well with this kind of acquisitions I have no faith....

 

[Maxipeg]

crap

Streaming services such as Spotify are making Apple's life harder in the music business. To me this seems like an desperate act. We'll see what happens next. They better make the Beats streaming service available worldwide and improve the quality of their headphones. Let's hope they didn't buy a bubble that will implode when someone starts poking around...

 

[Polansky]

I think Apple certainly wanted a music subscription service, first and foremost, HOWEVER, I think this deal is equally important to Apple because it keeps BEATS being bought by Google or Microsoft. Sometimes you buy to keep the competition from having a shot at the company.

This leaves room for MS or Google to buy Spotify.
Which is much more promising then any Beats product on the market today.

Once you've tried Spotify you know that Beats isn't competition, its not even in the same league.

 

[ErikGrim]

Beats will create $3billion in profits in 2.5 months?

Apple makes 3Bn in profits in 2.5 months with or without Beats.

 

[Polansky]

Steve Jobs doesn't have a doctorate and his tech company makes more than any German tech company. So maybe they should start hiring high school grads in your country ehh?

First Steve Job is dead (unfortunately)
Second - You have no clue how important Germany is in the technology industry and as an innovative country. I don't live in Germany. But you are plain wrong if you think that innovation only occurs in the USA.

 

[iPadCary]

That sickens me so much I think I need a doctor.

I'm at a complete loss for words… I can't believe Tim Cook can destroy Apple's image so quickly.

Ditto.
Poor Steve is rolling in his grave.
He worked his goddamned ass off to make Apple almost a cliché in it's
standing up for justice, tolerance, equality, etc., and here is Cook, out of short-sighted desperation,
doing extremely major business with a known mysoginist with a long criminal assault record,
all while making "songs" about murdering police officers.
This is what Apple is now associating with on a large scale?!?

And all because the music portion of iTunes business is down slightly.
Effing dispicable .... #TimMustGO

 

[nick_elt]

Obscene amount of money.

not really, they had 1.5billion turnover last year and to think what companies like whatsapp, instagram etc cost these days plus i assume the main reason to buy it os because they think they can expand on the subscription model that they have

 

[Benjamins]

Eddy on iCloud (via the Verge live blog):

8:56:52 PM PDT
"We'll see what we can do" with iCloud storage. "We'll see what we can do" has pretty much been the iCloud motto since it launched.

Lol what they can do is drop the price like everybody else.

Comparing to Dropbox, Google drive iCloud is highway robbery.

 

[unclefudgly]

This is the worst news I have ever read at Apple. I have been an Apple fanboy since my first LCIII, but now I feel dirty that a company I have always stood up for over the years is now being associated with a completely vacuous brand like Beats.

I am sick to my gut!

 

[flat five]

My love for Apple just shot up considerably. Dr. Dre has always been my #1 favorite artist/producer in hip hop.

i'd say RZA but maybe it's just an east/west thing

——
side note- that mashup features # 2,6,7,9,&22 in this ranking:

The Largest Vocabulary In Hip Hop

(method man, gza, ghostface, killa priest, and rza)


— —
to tie into the topic:

rza competes with beats:
Chambers by RZA


.

 

[AstewedUbserver]

Anyone notice how all of their wrists are awkwardly covered in the picture?

 

[Arndroid]

Certainly, the reason can't be because any of us actually knows what the real culture is at Apple. Because you know, we all work there, knew Jobs when he was alive, and know direction Apple is supposed to take.

Speculation is fine. Putting words in the mouth of a dead corpse isn't.




Historically, deals aren't made at Apple unless the partners are like-minded. As a result, business models, market decisions and cultures ARE conflated with deals at Apple, by design.





if that were really true, people wouldn't buy them.

This is just stuff you made up. In reality you have no clue of the corporate culture or like mindedness of any of their previous acquisitions.

As for people not buying things, Beats controls 70% of the high end headphone market. Sounds like a lot of like mindedness there.

It is pretty hard to swallow your like mindedness argument as it simply sounds like more coded racism. From everything we know at this point they seem extremely like minded.

----------

People will be equally pissed if Apple decides to buy some random best selling iDevice case maker. It's dumb.

It would be dumb if apple bought a company who sold 70% of all high end smartphone and tablet cases and made hundreds of millions a dollars a year in profit?

If that would be dumb, what would you consider smart?

 

[Arndroid]

The slow but steady decline of Apple as a brand, which began with the loss of Steve Jobs, and has gained momenteum since, now reaches warp speed. With all due respect, **** Tim Cook and the current brain trust. I think I will look elsewhere from here on. The manqué is bankrupt. The sense of specialness is gone. The hell with all this.

Pretty clear you are not using the word "brand" properly.