As a consumer, I'm disappointed with the fragmentation going on right now. All of these tech companies are turning into TV channels, and yet you can't bundle them together, and they're a pricey addition on top of regular TV, which is still a thing that has shows. To make matters worse, you need an Amazon device to get the Amazon TV app experience, and presumably an Apple device to get their streaming service. That is, unless they pull an Apple Music and build an Android version—but are they going to make apps for a range of third party TV devices? On top of all that, you have the rights issues—many of these services restrict how many concurrent streams you can have, unlike traditional TV, and you can't record shows on some, others have an additional fee to do this. Then you've got the different tiers per service. Oh, and many services don't offer the sports part of TV. Want live games? Go screw yourself! You have to buy a subscription per sport type, and even then you're blacked out for all of the teams in your area, so good luck watching on your mobile. You need a hard-line cable connection with a ridiculous subscription price or TV antenna to watch local sports—and a really expensive one if you live a little outside of town, and even then it's flakey because DTV sucks.
It's just so confusing and frustrating and expensive when multiplied over everything you have to buy, the devices you have to buy, the various switches for all your inputs, having to make sure too many people aren't using it, trying to figure out a way around blackout restrictions and the various apps you need to watch sports, etc. Oh, you could use a paid VPN service, but then they need your GPS, so then you have to jailbreak your device and hack the GPS signal. It's madness. I refuse to play this game. I don't really watch sports any more, and I barely watch TV. I mainly play video games if I want to be entertained, or go outside or build things in my workshop. If I need video I go to YouTube. There are tons of how-to videos and a lot of good science and comedy channels as well.
I feel Apple doesn't have to create all the content. Look at services like HBO. They don't have as much content as Netflix, and never will, and that's perfectly fine, because HBO is banking on people willing to subscribe to their service for a few shows that they do have like Game of Thrones.
Same here. Apple doesn't need to match Netflix in content. They simply need to have enough compelling content to get users to subscribe to them in addition to Netflix, and if I can get all that content for free by simply being an Apple Music subscriber (or by paying a little extra premium), that's one more reason to stay subscribed to Apple Music over say, Spotify.
Beats alone reportedly takes in 1 billion in revenue a year.
It can be argued that Apple is a design company, not a tech one.
https://www.aboveavalon.com/notes/2016/7/12/apples-plan-to-own-the-entire-music-industry
You're assuming any of this stuff is going to be any good. Can't see Planet of the Apps and Carpool Karaoke being up there with House of Cards and Game of Thrones to be honest. Its all going to be MTV esque reality based garbage.
GOT costs $8-10 million per episode to produce that would be a lot of money to throw around as a value add.
The truth is this is a "me too" move to compete with Spotify who have been producing their own original video content since early last year.
Don't give two farts about revenue. How much profit?
You're conflating two separate issues (the value in the purchase of Beats and what Apple Music is) as if your singular criticism is valid for both. Imo, they are not. They have to be addressed separately.Though please do explain how that 3 billion is paying for itself ?
Apple Music could have been awesome. Iovine ruined it , making it Hip-Hop centric.... sorry it's crap, can't stand the station, so one dimensional . No disprepect to proble who love hip-hop. Though I'd be interested to hear from hip-hop fans and that they think of AM.
No they didn't need a headphone brand. The headphones were the icing on the cake. They needed the industry connections and the streaming service. But who in their right mind would turn down super easy "hand-over-fist" profit? Not many. Least of all a company that is known for hand-over-fist profit making.Because Apple needed an overpriced headphone brand? And if they didn't buy beats for the headphones then see my original comment. I don't care how many connections Iovine has if these are the ideas he's pitching.
Are you kidding me? Beats practically pays for itself over time. Iovine brings his connections from the music industry over. 3B is actually a pretty good deal overall.
Yeah, but that's just something that geeks know about. People my parent's age look at this cluster and go "lol wut" and then call their kids to try to figure things out. People my grandparents age look at this and go "I don't understand anything being said right now, please don't make me think about this any more."And people wonder why someone would get something like nvidia shield and install Kodi. I got so fed up with the limitations of my Apple TV, Apple Music, I moved to the kodi.... fregmentation and greed!
It appears in the industry, sometimes you need to work with the devil to get what you want!R. Kelly is scum and it's disappointing that Apple is working with him.
Are you talking about Kodi?Yeah, but that's just something that geeks know about. ...snip
Why are you alleging that he's a clown?What Apple values does Dre represent? I still can't believe Apple paid $3B for this Iovine clown.
That makes "sense", but it's a boring name and would be bad branding.They should rename Apple Music to Apple Media then
This is assuming that every service is purchased, and kept year round like cable.Cord cutting getting pricier. To get all the original content, rather than pay for cable, one now needs to pay for:
Amazon
Netflix
Hulu Plus
HBO
Showtime
Apple Music
Some kind of streaming TV
Unbundled unlimited internet access (higher price)
And all those are set to rise in cost as the companies actually decide to make money.
Pretty much making the required costs over $100 a month (only counting the undbundled premium for internet, not base price)
And of course, now that some shows are exclusive to those new media sources, can't get them on cable now, which really just made cable less valuable.
In other words, "cord cutters" will not save a thin dime going forward, but like all disruptive practices, they made this cost more for everyone else
Oh great. From a child denier to wife beater to an underage rapist. Apple really knows how to pick em.
Also what does Apple MUSIC have to do with TV shows.
I am surprised by how Apple spreads out responsibility. It seems like people get stretched very thin, without dedicated champions for important initiatives. Maybe there's a logic to it I don't see, but it has always struck me as odd, and potentially limiting.One thing is for sure, if Apple has decided to get into content in a big way then Eddy Cue should be focusing on that and give all of Apple's cloud services to someone else. Maybe iCloud and Siri would really improve if they had their own SVP.
You're conflating two separate issues (the value in the purchase of Beats and what Apple Music is) as if your singular criticism is valid for both. Imo, they are not. They have to be addressed separately.
Apple Music: whether it's awesome or not, is strictly an opinion. It success as a subscription service hints at a lot of people liking it. It's intentional Hip Hop flavor seems to be popular with the majority of it's fans, lending to it's aforementioned success. One thing Apple has been good at it identifying the majority and targeting it aggressively while dragging the minority along, sometimes kicking and screaming - but they come along anyway.I don't even use Apple Music (Google Play Music + Youtube Red ftw) but it's not hard to recognize it's success - which came phenomenally quick. A lot of that is the result of their focus on understanding who to market to for the most bang for the buck.
Beats purchase: $3B for a company that was (at the time) generating $1B in revenues. An acquisition that could pay for itself, conservatively, in 4 years - through headphone sales alone. Regardless of one's opinion of the quality of Beats construction/sound from a business perspective there was no better headphone company to buy. Ridiculous sales, margin, and profit. What other company had the combination of a stupidly profitable product line along with a fully functional streaming service? Got the foundation for Apple Music. Instantly accelerating the timeline for the debut of Apple streaming music service. Add in the revenue from Apple Music and the Beats acquisition could pay for itself even sooner. I think this is what @Abazigal was referencing.
No they didn't need a headphone brand. The headphones were the icing on the cake. They needed the industry connections and the streaming service. But who in their right mind would turn down super easy "hand-over-fist" profit? Not many. Least of all a company that is known for hand-over-fist profit making.
I agree wholeheartedly Apple's entertainment ideas thus far are complete and utter crap. Well, you didn't actually say that but to me, everything from CP Karaoke, Planet of the Apps, R Kelly (mouth vomit), Puffy Combs, etc. have been complete and utter crap ideas. Apple now has some of the industry connections they desired. What they've done with them so far has been underwhelming. That is a separate issue altogether.
Strongly disagree. Not that hip-hop is huge and foundational for a generation, but that Apple should choose to make it such a lopsided focus. Music is nothing if not personal, and digital distribution makes it infinitely customizable. And with older generations behaving much differently than in the past, consuming much more media and being much more culturally active, it's a huge mistake to ignore non-youth. I think it's a mistake for Apple to focus on hip-hop at the expense of other music genres and fanbases. I'd love to see a Beats 2 radio station with a college/alternative focus, and perhaps other stations as well. And make it clear to ALL music fans that Apple has smart, experienced curators in ALL genres and is the one source for all true music fans.I'm sorry to say, from a revenue and future-looking standpoint, hip-hop dominates the music industry. Personally, I hate the stuff; but for millennials it is a basis of the cultural fabric. Millennials have reached adult-hood, and hip-hop is to them as classic Rock is to previous generations. It's not a fashion, it's a foundation.
I'm thoroughly confused. It seems most of what you've written puts us in agreement. My confusion is with the bolded portion of your comment. Did I not explicitly state $1B in revenue? I don't think I implied profit anywhere in my comment. Nor did I imply a 1:1 relationship between $3B cost and $1B revenue (that would have been paid for in 3 years at $1B a year not 4 years). More to your original point - which was a question:$1B revenue does not mean a company pays for itself in 3 years. Unless you spend based on your revenue/ wage....which I am sure you do not, if you get my drift.
I completely understand why apple bought Beats, it was not about the hardware. Where I was heading was that Beats were not making 1B in profit from headphones sales.....
When you want access to these tools running Beats, with the intention of hitting the ground running and setting up a streaming service with contacts to the industry, yup Beats is your only choice for an established company.
If we are talking about apple sticking to thier strengths, hardware, that is up market and marked up, BOSE. A partnership between those two would see Apple high end Audio gear and TV hitting the ground running. Apple though went audio and dumped thier TV plans, whatever they were that Jobs made reference to.
What apple did was very smart from $$$ pov, from a brand reputation and all these tools that are not associated with Apple.....well lets see how it plays out...only a matter of time before they end up in the press for the wrong reasons...
Anyway, my point is that No one sells a company for 3 Billion that is making 1 billion profit per year, Revenue is very different.
And frankly I don't mind Current beats headphones, it was an absolute joke what the first generation was, though the current ones are quite good. To be honest they are perfect for apple, overpriced for okay performance.
My questionable math aside, I think I did an okay job of explaining how that $3B is paying for itself. Would 4.5 to 6 years make my math more palatable?Though please do explain how that 3 billion is paying for itself ?
I'm thoroughly confused. It seems most of what you've written puts us in agreement. My confusion is with the bolded portion of your comment. Did I not explicitly state $1B in revenue? I don't think I implied profit anywhere in my comment. Nor did I imply a 1:1 relationship between $3B cost and $1B revenue (that would have been paid for in 3 years at $1B a year not 4 years). More to your original point - which was a question:
My questionable math aside, I think I did an okay job of explaining how that $3B is paying for itself. Would 4.5 to 6 years make my math more palatable?![]()
Did they just call R. Kelly a rapper? How many people on this site think R. Kelly is a rapper? Just by show of hands...maybe this site doesn't have the demographics I thought it did lol.