Beats CEO Jimmy Iovine in Talks to Join Apple as 'Special Adviser'

[ITGuy]

An odd purchase. Music deals/contracts can be canceled or not renewed, as they most likely will be now that Apple is buying Beats.

Agreed. Apple will not be simply waltzing in and purchasing the existing Beats content distribution licenses. They will all have to be re-negotiated. It is the industry norm that content distribution licenses/contracts become NULL AND VOID due to any merger/acquisition.

Having Jimmy Iovine as a "Special Advisor" to Apple will no doubt help make the re-negotiation process go much smoother.

-ITG

 

[bberger]

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.

I emphatically disagree. While Tim Cook's "vision" may still be up for debate, given that so many anticipated products are still shrouded in secrecy, there is nothing about the man that suggests he is easily swayed by anyone. On the contrary, he is more likely to seem obstinate than wishy-washy.

He may always be "the guy who replaced the guy," but you at least have to credit him conviction.

 

[brc21]

I don't understand this whole thing. I thought Beats was just a crappy headphone company pushed by some rap guy.

That "some rap guy" is a very very smart businessman. Last time I checked, apple could use more smart businessmen

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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.

"BS artists" I really wish people would know more information about the people they are talking about before commenting.

 

[Bonte]

If these Beats stories are true I'm predicting Apple's downfall.

Then i'm selling my stock, this is to stupid. About 10 times the price they payed for Next.

 

[jicon]

From what I've read about Iovine, not a fan. Successful, big talker, shrewd, but something about him...

So, 3 billion, PLUS potentially a 'Special Advisor'? Sweet investment Jimmy.

http://gizmodo.com/5981823/beat-by-dre-the-inside-story-of-how-monster-lost-the-world

 

[swingerofbirch]

It used to be metaphorical when people described Apple as a fashion company . . . next they're going to get the Olsen twins on board!

None of the fashion stuff bothers me; it's being fashionable to the exclusion of writing good software that is Apple's problem. And I worry that there might not be people at the top at Apple that know when software is bad. The summer before Maps launched everyone in the developer community knew it wasn't ready for prime time. How did Tim Cook not know until after it shipped?

But IMO bad software predates Tim Cook. In terms of Mac software it goes back to the first version of iMovie after iMovie 06 HD and in terms of Mac OS goes back to Lion (although Mavericks is an improvement). But in general, Mac software has become less and less intuitive.

I'm afraid that no one at Apple realizes this let alone cares. They care about sapphires and fashion.

 

[unobtainium]

Having Jimmy Iovine as a "Special Advisor" to Apple will no doubt help make the re-negotiation process go much smoother.

This. It's actually a great investment if it means Apple can get a Spotify clone up and running in short order.

 

[3N16MA]

The last guy who was a special adviser to Jobs was known as the "father of the iPod" and went on to found Nest and sold it to Google.

 

[Santabean2000]

Increasingly I'm not not so sure. While universally derided among the audiophile community, Beats headphones are everywhere and seem to sell very well with young people who either don't yet know better or are suckered into the brand and its image.

I've no doubt that given their prices it's an incredibly profitable company. These days it seems like Apple is more concerned with profitability than quality, which is the first stage of decline of any company. I'm not saying Apple is in decline. They still make so many great products, but for a company that built its success on iPods and selling music I'm consistently amazed and dismayed at Apple's lack of concern for audio quality.

I hear you no that one... This seems like an obvious hole in their approach. And I'm not sure Beats is the answer - but then, perhaps their music catalogue/deals are the real target here.

 

[Ventilatedbrain]

Forget hiring Jimmy Iovine as a special advisor. Apple should hire all these keyboard CEO's and multi-billion dollars business owners that post on Macrumors who know what's best for Apple.

THIS !!!! Just wanted to say I love you man . What's with all the whining though really ? Like any of us really know how to run a multi billion dollar company

 

[steve-p]

Even if they were planning to acquire some headphone patents there is no reason that should equal worse headphone then what they already make.

It's hard to imagine Beats hold any headphone patents. They are just a marketing company who just happen to have chosen headphones as their vehicle for parting teenagers from their (parents) money.

 

[MH01]

In my eyes I have always viewed as a company that positioned themselves at the top.

I look back at the launch of the iPhone 4, Steve was very proud, comparing it to a Leica, not saying there is anything wrong with the excellent nikons or canons, though Leica is from a design point of view on a other lever, it's class.

Now looking at Beats, having their logo on an iPhone like on the HTC, just devalues the apple branding for me.

If anything, look at Bose apple, Beats are just aaaaaaaarrrrgggghhhhhh!!!!

Though as others have stated, this might just be for the contracts and relationships in the music industry, just please don't associate Beats audio in apple products .

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THIS !!!! Just wanted to say I love you man . What's with all the whining though really ? Like any of us really know how to run a multi billion dollar company

Funny you should raise this. Look at the apple board , how many of them have experience running a multi billion dollars company Apple became huge so quickly, gained so much money, the senior guys there were around when Apple was struggling.... Sure they turned it around, but they did not have the experience running a multi billion company. They are living through the experience now.....

 

[Tankmaze]

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...

I would like to agree with what you're saying and hope for the best for apple.

But hiring john browett not so long ago ? Thats not a good track record under Tim.

 

[Zxxv]

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

 

[mdriftmeyer]

Apple has zero interest in extending products to Android.

 

[Peace]

Personal advisor to Tim Cook tells me Tim needs some connections to move his stalled vision of high quality music delivered to the masses. Kind of explains why Apple is making iTunes a separate app. Cross Platform I'm guessing . Maybe even a build for Android.

Put most of the worlds music on one app or website available to multiple platforms makes for a good money making equation. Especially if the streaming algorithms are ones that please the audience .

In any case they should stream in 320kbps. It's time.

 

[darkplanets]

Next year Tim will announce a new record label, Apple Records, premiering with Dre dropping his Detox album...

Snark aside, good move for Apple if true. He can navigate where other outsiders likely cannot.

 

[Kebabselector]

giving Ive autocratic power which led to aesthetically god-awful iOS Hello Kitty and the 5c.

Yawn, get over it - iOS 6 needed to change - it changed - if they left it alone you'd probably be crying that Apple have no ideas. As for the 5C - whats the problem with it - it outsells most phones except the 5S and it's the slightly lower spec last years phone Apple have always sold - this time they put it in a different case.

 

[prowlmedia]

Agreed. Apple will not be simply waltzing in and purchasing the existing Beats content distribution licenses. They will all have to be re-negotiated. It is the industry norm that content distribution licenses/contracts become NULL AND VOID due to any merger/acquisition.

Having Jimmy Iovine as a "Special Advisor" to Apple will no doubt help make the re-negotiation process go much smoother.

-ITG

Sorry that's complete bull. You don't know what's in the agreement beats has and I know for a fact spotify has 3, 5 and 7 year agreements without that clause

I suspect they will be buying beats for the audio streaming and will sell back the hardware for a nominal fee.

 

[nebo1ss]

hope his first piece of advice is "don't buy beats." but somehow i doubt it.

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haven't you heard? They're hiring a bunch of medical-types for the iwatch. Dr. Dre would be perfect

lol

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Some people are myopic.

This has zero to do with headphones.

With Beats Music Apple has an instant access to an established cross platform, streaming music service.

Meaning they get a piece of Windows, Android, iOS, and OSX and whatever else can access the service.

The industry contracts are already signed so Apple has less drama, or record labels trying to milk that Apple money.

Apple needs a music streaming service or they risk showing up late to a party run by Spotify and Google Music.

Only problem with this is that Beats has no traction with its streaming service at this time. Also I would not be surprised if those music contracts have get out clauses in case of takeover. I am sure Apple will be crawling all over those contracts.

 

[nebo1ss]

Next year Tim will announce a new record label, Apple Records, premiering with Dre dropping his Detox album...

Snark aside, good move for Apple if true. He can navigate where other outsiders likely cannot.

I have news for you. There is already an Apple records it is owned by the Beatles.

 

[gnasher729]

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.

Deals like that don't usually transfer easily when a company is sold.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

It happened.

 

[gnasher729]

I have news for you. There is already an Apple records it is owned by the Beatles.

And Apple paid for and owns all the trademarks. On the other hand, "iTunes Records" would be a much more likely candidate for a name.

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Apple has zero interest in extending products to Android.

It depends. To the extent that this improves Android devices, that's actually a negative for Apple. To the extent that it improves sales and/or market power of the product, it's a positive. For example, if you have a choice on an Android phone to buy music from Amazon or Google, Apple would surely prefer it if you bought the music from iTunes instead.

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Just look at APPL PE ratio: it's at 14 , MSFT is at 14, Facebook is at 71 and Google is at 27. That gives you an indication of what people think future holds for these companies. Apple will follow Microsoft into being an old dying irrelevant giant.

It's more related to the fact that Apple (which is AAPL, not APPL. APPL is a defunct petroleum company) and Microsoft make tons of money, while Facebook doesn't and Google makes a lot less. The more profit, the lower the P/E ratio.

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I doubt it. Apples headphones are way better than beats IMO.

What Apple headphones? I have never seen any Apple headphones. Of course there is a huge list of companies making better headphones than Beats. The list is almost identical to the list of companies making headphones

 

[Dontazemebro]

Dr. Dre pocketed about $100 million on the HTC deal, I can only imagine what he'll get out of this one.

Last I recall that was around 30% of the entire deal so he could stand to profit at least a billion dollars. That's L.A. Clippers type money. Could be the next Mark Cuban lol.