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Apple's Acquisition of Beats Met with Skepticism, but Jimmy Iovine May Be Key

Benjamins said:
3 billion for an equalizer profile? really.
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Yup - because they paid $3 billion for an equalizer profile.

And $3 billion for Jimmy Iovine.

And $3 billion for Beats Music streaming service.

And $3 billion for.....

Oh wait....they paid $3 billion ONCE for ALL of those things.

Get over yourself, Apple isn't the most valuable company in the world because it throws money away on worthless acquisitions. If its happening, Apple has a good reason for it. Something most here seem to not be capable of understanding.
 
Apple knows what they're doing.

I HIGHLY doubt you're going to see an Apple logo on Beats headphones/earphones or a Beats logo on their computers/iDevices.

We have no clue of the details of this acquisition and it isn't even confirmed, sooo let's wait and see.
 
2ms said:
Here Apple goes down that path MS took.

Not forward thinking at all.

Guess that money's burning a hole in the wallet. Cook doesn't have the vision to do anything except apologize to the world that his company is successful and building solar power stations and making tv ads about it to plead for their acceptance.
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:confused: what does this have to do with that?
 
DrFu79 said:
If true, this literally has to be the worst acquisitition i can think of.

I hate Beats with a passion - all style, no substance.

As a longtime (20+Years) Apple user, I don't want this kind of philosophy (further?) taking over Apple - all about fashion and brand. Angela Ahrends, Beats etc.

Just make a damn good product and it sells itself by merit. Stop the fluff.

Kids get off my lawn. I know.
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I don't think Apple would throw out of the window $3b for nothing. They must have something that is a game changer or will benefit Apple immensely. I doubt it is the headphones. So we need to wait to find out.
 
NateTheVape420 said:
They are the best headphones design wise and quality wise PERIOD.
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No. They're really not. Beats by Dre is just an excellent example of how marketing plays into you having a successful product. Places the headphones on big name music stars and that makes all the kids want them to seem 'cool.' The headphones themselves are actually not that great.
 
"According to the original Financial Times report, Apple's acquisition of Beats could be announced as soon as next week. Negotiations are still ongoing with some final details yet to be ironed out, allowing for the possibility that "talks could still fall apart." "

Or Apple running a mega-troll, hoping Samsung will jump in and gazump the deal with a bigger offer! :)
 
NateTheVape420 said:
Beats by Dre doesn't grab 51% of the headphone market by making bad products. They are the best headphones design wise and quality wise PERIOD. Everyone on here that has something negative to say about this deal is really mad at the fact that there giving a blk guy a billion dollars and that a blk guy is making the best headphones on the market. Beats by Dre came in and changed the headphone game forever the same way apple did with the Iphone. This is a great acquisition and a tremendous deal for both Apple and Beats and just goes to show why apple will be the number one company to ever exist in the near future. (the world is changing folks get rid of the hate from your heart it will only lead to hate in the world)
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Gimme a break. Race has nothing to do with this.
 
jrswizzle said:
Lol....it's like the reaction to the 1st round of the NFL Draft last night....people making HUGE assumptions based on very little information.

-The HTC One (with Beats Audio - whatever that means) sounded killer. Those Boomsound speakers were awesome. I'd love something like that in the iPhone or iPad.

-This isn't about headphones.....for the umpteenth time.

-iTunes Radio ISN'T wildly successful. And while Beats Music isn't either, merging the two or promoting Beats might be more successful for Apple.

-Apple's music business is sinking. Iovine could be a key to resurrecting it.

While $3.2 billion isn't anything to sneeze at, its approximately 2% of Apple's CASH reserve. Meaning this isn't a MASSIVE acquisition for them. Apple isn't in the habit of acquiring companies on a whim, there must be a reason. And until we know what that is, will you all please....CUT THE CRAP.
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I've got it. Announce acquisition and that Beats is going to remain a brand and that Iovine is going to be a senior executive. Watch stock price drop 10% or more. Acquire Beats for $3B. Use other cash to buy back massive amounts of Apple stock (like $50 billion). Sell Beats for $1B. Lose $2B on sale, but get to buy $50b of Apple stock at 10% discount. Result: Profit.

Apple can put a better speaker in the iPhone if it wants to use space for it. Beats has no special speaker IP. I've got a "b" on my laptop. It sounds okay. But it is mainly just a matter of how big a speaker you want to put in your device.

Iovine hasn't made any profit streaming audio with Beats. Basically no one has because all the services are pricing their product too cheap. Iovine isn't going to come up with something that helps Apple. The main issue is that the stock market allows Pandora and Spotify and others to give away their product for very cheap, while getting talented engineers for cheap via way stock options. No one can fight this as long as the stock market keeps supporting these and other companies. And you have piracy also working to keep revenue in this space down.

Maybe there is something here we don't see. But whatever it is, it is something very different from Apple's other acquisitions.
 
JPLC said:
Iovine reminders me a lot of Steve Jobs. Its almost scary.
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How about this: Iovine doesn't advice Cook. He's learning from Cook about the company for taking over his position. Apple needs color and Cook isn't the guy that fits the job.
 
satchmo said:
Yes, but $3.2 billion?
None of us are privy to the negotiations and rights to music labels may well be in excess of $3.2 billion. I think the furor over this rumour is the perceived over priced purchase price.

And while Cook and Iovine have history, I'm sure Apple would do due diligence before throwing good money away.
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Dr. Dre had history with Steve Jobs.

Do you really think 3.2 Billion is anything for Apple? Apple just spent 100 Billion on AAPL stock buy backs to keep Wall Street happy, to me that was a much larger chunk of cash. Many say that stock buy backs are just gimmicks. Never the less, 3.2 Billion is nothing for Apple!
 
jrswizzle said:
Oh wait....they paid $3 billion ONCE for ALL of those things.

Get over yourself, Apple isn't the most valuable company in the world because it throws money away on worthless acquisitions. If its happening, Apple has a good reason for it. Something most here seem to not be capable of understanding.
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Exactly, Beats had well over $1 billion in revenue back in 2013...this is not pie in the sky with almost no revenue like Whatsapp, Nest and other recent tech deals.

Beats grew from nothing to over $1 billion in sales in just five years.

Now let's imagine Beats with improved global distribution using the Apple mothership / retail stores.

Beats also has really good margins on their hardware - Apple can probably even improve those thanks to their operating efficiency and scale.

I think the price is quite cheap (Pandora and Spotify have higher market caps than Beats and while they have more subscribers they don't do hardware).
 
unobtainium said:
Apple has a reputation in the industry. 1) a reputation for being loaded with cash and 2) a reputation for screwing labels over in negotiations. There's bad blood with itunes, which for a decade almost single-handedly decimated the music industry. Iovine has tons of contacts, sits on many boards, and has likely already negotiated the deals Apple wants.

We don't know what else is on the table. There might also be a highly desirable headphone patent at play. There were those rumours a while back about sensors of some kind becoming integrated with Apple headphones.
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Right! Pity the music industry don't get it - piracy and technological evolution decimated the music industry (as if they could make huge fortunes forever from selling bits of plastic). Apple saved their bacon. Acquiring Beats saves a lot of grief - licensing, infrastructure development, front end development. The headphones are a bonus.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
Honestly, if history is any guide, based on the extreme negative feelings about the potential deal around here, I'd say it's likely to be a quite profitable one for Apple longterm.
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Exactly this. I love the fact that everyone hates this. Armchair analysts are great for humor.
 
NateTheVape420 said:
Of course it would be someone from Texas to say that !!!!

Say what you really feel I would respect you more.
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Lol - gotta love the hypocrisy.

What do you mean by "someone from Texas"? Do you even know me or who I am? The color of my skin?

I said that, because this is no place for it. There could be all manner of idiotic reasons people hate Beats headphones (some justified, others not) - but until we STOP boiling everything down to race, we'll never overcome the divide created by people like YOU constantly throwing it in everyone's face.

There is ZERO evidence presented on this forum that anyone here hates Beats because Dr. Dre is black. So really, why make that statement?.....to incite some argument, that's why.

Good luck - this is all you'll get outa me.
 
I dont think apple wants to get into the headphone business, but i know itunes is losing relevancy fast.. It is in Apples best interest to hold onto it. Beats might just be the thing that does.
 
TallManNY said:
Maybe there is something here we don't see. But whatever it is, it is something very different from Apple's other acquisitions.
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True.

The very fact that a company selling overpriced headphones has become so valuable tells us there is something worth investing in, under the hood. Perhaps it's the people, or the culture, or the patents (!) or even just the brand (!!) but neither apple nor beats have got to where they are without an exquisite business sense, and we're not likely to dissect that on an amateur forum.
 
TallManNY said:
I've got it. Announce acquisition and that Beats is going to remain a brand and that Iovine is going to be a senior executive. Watch stock price drop 10% or more. Acquire Beats for $3B. Use other cash to buy back massive amounts of Apple stock (like $50 billion). Sell Beats for $1B. Lose $2B on sale, but get to buy $50b of Apple stock at 10% discount. Result: Profit.

Apple can put a better speaker in the iPhone if it wants to use space for it. Beats has no special speaker IP. I've got a "b" on my laptop. It sounds okay. But it is mainly just a matter of how big a speaker you want to put in your device.

Iovine hasn't made any profit streaming audio with Beats. Basically no one has because all the services are pricing their product too cheap. Iovine isn't going to come up with something that helps Apple. The main issue is that the stock market allows Pandora and Spotify and others to give away their product for very cheap, while getting talented engineers for cheap via way stock options. No one can fight this as long as the stock market keeps supporting these and other companies. And you have piracy also working to keep revenue in this space down.

Maybe there is something here we don't see. But whatever it is, it is something very different from Apple's other acquisitions.
Click to expand...

That's a pretty bold assumption. Perhaps its unlikely - but to say it won't happen is a little far fetched.

Point being, there are various reasons Apple would buy Beats. My guess? It's a little bit of all of it and some things we haven't seen yet.
 
Its so they can have Apple Beats in headlines.

Apple Beats Samsung
Apple Beats Sony
Apple Beats Spotify
Apple Beats Google
Apple Beats....


all without getting sued.

pple programs the hive mind. Influences consumer subconscious. Destroys the competition. pple
 
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