Yes, so renowned for having poor sound quality that they sell billions of dollars worth of headphones.
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Beats Breakdown: Apple Paying $2.5B for Beats Electronics, $500M for Beats Music
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Yes, so renowned for having poor sound quality that they sell billions of dollars worth of headphones.
And considering the sound quality and fit of Apple's earbuds being thirty times worse than Beats; I see only room for improvement.
Its like spotify. It lets you pick.
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Samsung did some stuff today but I dont remember what it was.
Cos they are ***** , Apple are supposed to do quality products! a sheer waste of money..conned by a record company exec simple as that.
What happens if they become good or they provide different types of sound for different types of listeners.
iWatch
Does anyone else notice that in that photo, everyone except Dr. Dre is hiding his iWatch?
Does anyone else notice that in that photo, everyone except Dr. Dre is hiding his iWatch?
Beats streaming servicing is a playlist curation service.
Like Flipboard for news.
News.google.com for news.
Or Genius mix in iTunes.
Like Pandora.
They all curate.
Awesome news! Can't wait to see what Apple does with this. I'll buy anything shiny and made buy Apple.
Exactly - look at the troubled history of Beats. And particularly how Dre and Lovine manoeuvred this company away from Monster and stealing the original designs which were all created by Monster. Its a sad case of Dre and Lovine as purely Money makers and they will be laughing all the way to the Bank. Meanwhile in 5 or 10 years time this will add very little to Apple in terms of capability or branding.
I'm not a huge fan of this arrangement, but it does make interested as hell in Apple's future products.
The market liked the news. Apple was up like 2% before close on the news.
Before that, this AM, an analyst on Marketplace Morning Report said they think the deal is about wearable technology - which I agree with.
And perhaps coincidentally, Beats introduced a new model, with better audio performance (read, less bassy, more neutral). How interesting...
Before that, this AM, an analyst on Marketplace Morning Report said they think the deal is about wearable technology - which I agree with.
And perhaps coincidentally, Beats introduced a new model, with better audio performance (read, less bassy, more neutral). How interesting...
The break down makes way more sense. It seems that if they decide that they don't want to keep the hardware side, they clearly know what they paid and can negotiate from there. Personally I do hope they keep it. I think that building better airplay speakers is an area that could provide growth. I am ready to drop a coin on airplay speakers for the house. Clearly, although not the biggest cost, the prize is the streaming portion and the talent of Dre and Jimmy. Say what you will, they have the creds to help Apple sign better deals. Eddie (mi compatriota), although very good is not going to get the deals that I think jimmy and dre can get.
The real question is will the culture work or will these guys walk after 6 months. So far the honeymoon looks good but who knows.
The real question is will the culture work or will these guys walk after 6 months. So far the honeymoon looks good but who knows.
The amount paid for beats is so ridiculous it makes me wonder if there's something fishy going on... Beats is great at marketing, I'll grant them that but their desirability is just a fad, which come and goes. The product is designed by Ammunition and produced by Chinese/Taiwanese in China. Yes, they are extremely profitable and they sold a boat-load of them, but does that mean that they are great products? Samsung sold a ton of Galaxy phones over the years, but it doesn't change the fact that Jobs (and most would agree) find them to be second rated, copied product. Eddy Cue said that Dre/Iovine have great ears, which is ironic because their headphones are lousy.
In terms of hardware, there are great many headphone companies out there that are superior. Software wise, the article says that even $500 Million valuation is generous. So then, the only great thing about beats is their ability to make people overpay, which is what Apple is doing. $2.5 billion for a fad.
At the end of the day, $3 Billion is $3 Billion, regardless if it's 0.05% or 15% of Apple. Apple will easily make this money back, but it makes people question Apple executive team's judgment and the direction they are going; which leads to people's outlook for this company. There wouldn't be such a strong criticism about this beats deal if people didn't care about Apple.
One last thing to ponder on is that in the Re/Code interview, Iovine said that he has been asking Apple to buy beats for the last 10 years. So for all this time, Jobs never pulled the trigger to buy beats, why?
In terms of hardware, there are great many headphone companies out there that are superior. Software wise, the article says that even $500 Million valuation is generous. So then, the only great thing about beats is their ability to make people overpay, which is what Apple is doing. $2.5 billion for a fad.
At the end of the day, $3 Billion is $3 Billion, regardless if it's 0.05% or 15% of Apple. Apple will easily make this money back, but it makes people question Apple executive team's judgment and the direction they are going; which leads to people's outlook for this company. There wouldn't be such a strong criticism about this beats deal if people didn't care about Apple.
One last thing to ponder on is that in the Re/Code interview, Iovine said that he has been asking Apple to buy beats for the last 10 years. So for all this time, Jobs never pulled the trigger to buy beats, why?
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Im trialing the beats app and it has no restrictions at all. Really nice. The only thing I hate is music discovery sucks. It would be really nice to see iTunes radio and the beats app merge into an amazing iRadio app
I've been using Beats Music for over 2 weeks now (90-day free trial through AT&T). Design is excellent. No restrictions as you said. But my only issue has been NEW music discovery. The "Just for You" homepage does a good job of suggesting playlists based on the artists and genres you like, but I do find myself looking for a basic stream of the Top 50 hits by genre like iTunes Radio has.
There are similar playlists in Beats Music but you just have to dig a little deeper to find them than I'd prefer. I agree that a combo of iTunes Radio and Beats Music would be the perfect match. The real interesting thing will be the price structure and how it all relates to the traditional iTunes Store.
Yes. Looks like Apple's getting caught up with marketing this time. Truth is, Beats Music was a bit late to the game and probably wanted to rest on the laurels of the celebrities endorsing it (much like their headphones). What I would like to know is if Trent Reznor is now an Apple employee.
Any song in the catalogue. Whenever you want, wherever you want. Someone else picking the playlist is just part of the discovery or listening experience when you don't know what you want to hear. It's great.
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Honestly, I've been an avid tech geek and Apple user for 8 years now, and this week has been the first week I have ever heard of Sennheiser.
Beats headphones are simply the $2.5B tip required to buy the $500M Beats Music subscription service. Apple wasn't openly shopping for headphone manufacturers.
Couldn't Apple just buy the Beats Music sector? That's what Google did with Motorola.
I'm not sure this really surprises anyone. Beats Electronics is a known money maker, Beats Music still has a way to go. Getting such a well designed app and attractive app (something that Apple has struggled with in the past) with all the licenses already negotiated has accelerated Apple's entry into on demand streaming by at least a year (with a 250,000 subscriber head start).
Everyone keeps going on about how Beats headphones are lousy, or are overpriced, or are worse than Sennheiser, etc., etc. My impression is that most complaining people never owned a pair and are simply regurgitating common sentiments. Much like Bose. People that own Beats and Bose like them and typically refer them to others. Blame the marketing? Probably not. Show me some data comparing Beats with other comparably priced headphones...data on the neodymium magnets and materials, the drivers and the engineering.
*I have a pair of Bowers & Wilkins P3's and have never used Beats headphones (but I'm sure my $250 B&W's are better cuz Beats sucks)
*I have a pair of Bowers & Wilkins P3's and have never used Beats headphones (but I'm sure my $250 B&W's are better cuz Beats sucks)
Beats me too.
Ask any audiophile, beats earphones would probably be the last thing he/she recommends. Many of them hold the opinion that beats earphones are 45% Design 45% Hype and only 10% sound quality
In fact, fan boys over at the android camp think the same about Apple too. Seems like we really are going to be design and hype over quality
As a premium spotify user who is also a loyal apple user, I see zero reason to switch to Beats
I hope Apple has something special for Beats Music by making it highly incorporated into the iOS but most of all 100% of all iTunes Store music available on Beats Music. Then I'd switch in a heartbeat
I hope Apple has something special for Beats Music by making it highly incorporated into the iOS but most of all 100% of all iTunes Store music available on Beats Music. Then I'd switch in a heartbeat
Never had Beats headphones but the Beats labeled built in speakers on my Envy are pretty good on their own. However it seems an awful lot of money to spend. How are companies like this valued? I guess Apple have big plans. Hope Cues on the ball with this. If not they can afford to chalk it to experience.
probably saw a bundle of sales through their apple stores of beats headphones and figured they might as well keep all that profit for themselves. Double down on quality of the headphone lineup and stop selling all other brands of headphones in their stores, really pushing their new lineup into next year. Most likely pig-tailing on a iTune HD or iMatch HD service to promote the sale of the headphones. 'Designed to take full advantage of all iTunes HD has to offer' or some marketing tag line like that. Maybe an HD ipod player to replace the classic.