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Apr 12, 2001
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Just a couple hours after the Financial Times reported that Apple was in talks to acquire Beats Electronics, the New York Post is reporting that Beats CEO Jimmy Iovine is in talks to join Apple as a "special adviser" to Tim Cook on creative matters.
Beats Electronics boss and veteran music industry executive Jimmy Iovine is in talks to join Apple as a "special adviser" to Tim Cook on creative matters, two sources close to talks tell The Post.
Iovine is also the chairman of Universal Music Group's Interscope Geffen A&M music labels, though his contract is set to expire at the end of 2014. However, it's not clear if this is part of the potential purchase of Beats Electronics or separate from that deal.

Iovine has strong contacts in the music industry, allowing Apple to potentially leverage him for potential future negotiations with music labels. This would make him a strong addition even if Apple doesn't purchase Beats.

If Iovine does join Apple, Iovine would be the second high profile executive to join the company after former Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts. The Beats CEO also has a history with Apple, having pitched Steve Jobs on a subscription music service and meeting with Apple executives about Beats Music before it launched.

Article Link: Beats CEO Jimmy Iovine in Talks to Join Apple as 'Special Adviser'
 
Apple is not full of stupid people. There must be a good reason for this whole deal to be going through. Without knowing all the facts we can just but guess...
 
If these Beats stories are true I'm predicting Apple's downfall.
 
Apple is not full of stupid people. There must be a good reason for this whole deal to be going through. Without knowing all the facts we can just but guess...

It's pretty obvious. Beats must have negotiated a stellar subscription music deal with the record labels (possibly thanks to this dude's contacts in the industry). Apple wants to quickly jump on that ship, so they're snapping up the deals Beats has already signed.
 
It's pretty obvious. Beats must have negotiated a stellar subscription music deal with the record labels (possibly thanks to this dude's contacts in the industry). Apple wants to quickly jump on that ship, so they're snapping up the deals Beats has already signed.

I think you're right and I really really really really really hope it's not for the headphone "technology".
 
I don't understand this whole thing. I thought Beats was just a crappy headphone company pushed by some rap guy.
 
I think you're right and I really really really really really hope it's not for the headphone "technology".

With all due respect that is an asinine concern. Even if they were planning to acquire some headphone patents there is no reason that should equal worse headphone then what they already make. Obviously this is assuming Apple continues to make wise decisions that result in net benefit for the user.

My point is that in general:
Current Technology + New Technology /= Worse Product
 
Things are getting interesting!

Not in a good way. Why not take that 3 billion and make your own high end headphones. Do something innovative not yet seen like when the iPad came out. 3 freaking billion is a ton of cash. Hell, I bet it weighs that much in $100 bills.
 
Hope his first piece of advice is "don't buy Beats." But somehow I doubt it.

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Ugh.... what's next, Apple? Gonna hire Dr. Dre too? Ughhhh :(

Haven't you heard? They're hiring a bunch of medical-types for the iWatch. Dr. Dre would be perfect :)
 
I'm not a fan of Beats headphones (way too much artificial bass for my taste), but I think Jimmy Iovine is a marketing genius and would be a fantastic addition to Apple's lineup of advisers.
 
Tim Cook is slowly killing Apple. What Ballmer did to Microsoft, that's exactly what Cook's gonna do to Apple in 5 years. Just watch. The man has no vision and is easily swayed by these BS artists.
 
Dr. Dre pocketed about $100 million on the HTC deal, I can only imagine what he'll get out of this one.
 
What in the world is itunes radio or what ever Apple calls it? A failure already?

It's not a subscription-based on-demand streaming service like Spotify. You can't create playlists or add to your collection or queue up specific songs with iRadio.
 
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