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Beats Co-Founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine Expected to Take on Senior Roles at Apple Following Acquisition

Lmao.Its been a rough couple of months for fanboys the world over.First iOS7 had them going crazy.Now this beats business.The bigger screen iphone is going to have the one handed people crazy too.:D

I hope they package some beats with the iPhone 6.Anything is better than those EarPods.
 
If Apple needs Beats, what do you reckon the price will now sky-rocketed for headphones from Apple ?

Apple will get more money, so why should they...

However, this will also narrow the market here. Before there was a very good choice between cheap and expensive...

Now, it won't be like that. Which means where else it there ? non-Apple headphones if you want affordable pricing ?
 
I wasn't too happy about this either, not a big fan of beats at all think they're ugly BUT someone here suggested watching the AllthingsD interview with Jimmy Iovine from 2013 and now I have to say smart move Apple - because I don't really think Beats engine or Mog or whatever they have under the hood is anything like what Apple have but what they can offer Apple is ........"Jimmy Iovine" he is as close as you can get to Steve Jobs - the guy reminds me of Steve - cool vibe - a mans man, straight talking without that education taints background, this is the guy you want to do the iTunes related music spot of an Apple keynote, Apple paid 3 Billion to get Jimmy Iovine onboard Apple - smart move - he's worth it, he know Bruce, Petty and a host of rock n' roll kings and queens and he has a Steve Jobs swagger about him, Steve was cool Iovine is cool this is history making, he's run record labels and hey if Tim Cook ever steps down this could be the kind of cool to replace him as CEO.
 
kmj2318 said:
Clearly Apple buying Beats means that iTunes will only allow rap from now on :rolleyes:
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Going by some of the replies here people must think Tim and company will start smoking blunts and drinking 40s during boardroom meetings.
 
ChrisA said:
Also, I think Apple is going to get into creating "content" Perhaps their own record label? That would be the way to get the best deals in the future
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If they wanted content, they should just buy Sony, but Apple has always avoided messy acquisitions.
 
JobsGang said:
Lmao.Its been a rough couple of months for fanboys the world over.First iOS7 had them going crazy.Now this beats business.The bigger screen iphone is going to have the one handed people crazy too.:D

I hope they package some beats with the iPhone 6.Anything is better than those EarPods.
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fanboys? How original. :rolleyes:
 
I absolutely LOVE the insane arguments against, quick conclusions and disregard for facts. Either Cook, Ive and crew are morons or they aren't. Did they become stupid overnight? Did Steve Jobs keep them in check? The peanut gallery sees these people as idiots while Jobs missed it during his interactions? So nutty....


Main lesson. Apple always zigs when others zag. It hurt them in the past and it has also helped propel them forward.

Time will tell but this silly freakout smells of hipster/emo drama. Grow-up and calm the hell down.
 
fpnc said:
Okay, ChrisA (and possible others) just suggested the same thing I was thinking. But, I'll go ahead and post my thoughts anyway.

Perhaps Apple is considering getting into the music production business. Bypass the traditional studios and have the artists go directly through Apple and into the iTunes Store. It might not happen immediately (or at all), but maybe they want Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre to build that kind of business. In the meantime they get the subscription music service and some new marketing possibilities.

This might be Apple's first step into media production. Following that they could expand into video (movies, episodic content) since they may want to try and break the lock in those areas that is currently being held by the traditional content providers and distributors. In that sense, they would be following Amazon and Netflix, probably their two biggest competitors in the media streaming business.
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As great as this observation is, I would have thought that initiating such a plan would have been better when iTunes sales were at their peak. Greater opportunity to reinforce the benefits of iTunes production so to speak. With other players in the market now the music industry has options available to them where at the height if iTunes success there were so few therefore persuasion is far easier.

Again it's a fantastic thought and I would agree that this would be a natural progression but if this is the plan then it's been far too many years in the making.

It'll be interesting regardless.
 
It's all about the Benjamins

1) I will bet a lot of money that Tim Cook is not a fan of rap. But he *is* a fan of good business. When he looks at Dr. Dre do you think he sees a former member of NWA or the guy who build a record company worth $500 million? Who signed Eminen and 50 Cent and turned them into international megastars? If you *seriously* believe Dr. Dre has nothing of value to offer in terms of business acumen and strategy when it comes to the music industry...well, you might be letting your bigotry get the better of you, is the nicest way I can put it.

2) So you don't like Eminem or 50 Cent and think rap and hip hop suck and are "destroying American society" (seriously, somebody said exactly that in a comment in this thread)? Then your admiration for Dr. Dre should go *up*, because he found a way to take that terrible, horrible product and make hundreds of millions of dollars off of it. Again, starting from absolutely nothing.

3) Personally I doubt Apple bought Beats for the headphone technology. They bought it primarily for their streaming music platform.

It could still be a bad deal, it could still be a waste of money, but the people who are so *offended* by this possible acquisition because they "don't like rap" really need to take a course in critical thinking.
 
ChrisA said:
They are buying Beats for the streaming music service, to get these two guys to work for Apple and for headphone design and manufacturing facilities. A hope like anything Apple improves the audio quality of the headphones.

One thing I want Apple to do with the headphone is build the iPod into the headphone and elinate the WIRE. I hate wires. Put the flash memory inside the headphone.

Also, I think Apple is going to get into creating "content" Perhaps their own record label? That would be the way to get the best deals in the future
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Excellent point about forming their own music label. Would make a lot of sense.
 
Yr Blues said:
Please let this be a bad joke. The end is nigh. :apple:
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I'm VERY VERY VERY Curious the source of this and many arguments to these two pairing ... or if it was only Jimmy Iovine how much more acceptable it would be?! Yes I'm DEFINITELY GOING THERE!

Dre ... despite some of you having serious lack of knowledge about him is MORE than a half-assed/good rapper ... he's an INCREDIBLE producer ... I'd honestly say he's MUCH MORE versatile and BETTER in EVERYWAY than Sean Combs, and even much more successful than Joseph "RUN" Simmons (RUN DMC's) brother Russell. He has an incredible wealth of music industry knowledge, clout, power, and experience.

So I wonder if this has MORE to do than a former NWA member - still perceived by the anglo saxon middle/upper-class or yuppy/hipster Apple fan base being more afraid of a "Black" executive at Apple .... those of you that fit what I'm thinking of having this fear have completely forgotten what Apple was REALLY about ... status class, big money, and exclusion was NOT amongst them, shame on you for even fearing this.
 
thefourthpope said:
It is (seemingly) a lot of money for what Apple (seemingly) is getting. Mostly I find it odd that apple feels the need for drastic changes to appeal to a younger crowd. Must be that I am older than I care to admit.
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Out of curiosity, why do you find it odd that Apple would want to appeal to a younger croud? I can't think of a reason why they wouldn't want to.

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Supa_Fly said:
I'm VERY VERY VERY Curious the source of this and many arguments to these two pairing ... or if it was only Jimmy Iovine how much more acceptable it would be?! Yes I'm DEFINITELY GOING THERE!

Dre ... despite some of you having serious lack of knowledge about him is MORE than a half-assed/good rapper ... he's an INCREDIBLE producer ... I'd honestly say he's MUCH MORE versatile and BETTER in EVERYWAY than Sean Combs, and even much more successful than Joseph "RUN" Simmons (RUN DMC's) brother Russell. He has an incredible wealth of music industry knowledge, clout, power, and experience.

So I wonder if this has MORE to do than a former NWA member - still perceived by the anglo saxon middle/upper-class or yuppy/hipster Apple fan base being more afraid of a "Black" executive at Apple .... those of you that fit what I'm thinking of having this fear have completely forgotten what Apple was REALLY about ... status class, big money, and exclusion was NOT amongst them, shame on you for even fearing this.
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I truly don't understand why so many people are angry about this deal. I don't use Beats and I don't listen to rap, but a lot of people do and it doesn't bother me that Apple recognizes this. Thinking it's a bad move is one thing, but being personally offended/upset by this really does seem a bit racist to me. I hope Apple ignores the Tea Party contingent of MR forums.

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Four oF NINE said:
If they wanted better audio earbuds, why not Sennheiser or Shure?
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You read this article and came away thinking this deal is about earbuds?
 
Zerilos said:
Out of curiosity, why do you find it odd that Apple would want to appeal to a younger croud? I can't think of a reason why they wouldn't want to.

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I truly don't understand why so many people are angry about this deal. I don't use Beats and I don't listen to rap, but a lot of people do and it doesn't bother me that Apple recognizes this. Thinking it's a bad move is one thing, but being personally offended/upset by this really does seem a bit racist to me. I hope Apple ignores the Tea Party contingent of MR forums.
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So Apple is spending $3B to get people who listen to rap to think they're cool? I'd rather Apple spend their money on really great technology or something like Netflix rather than a fad that may or may not be popular a year from now. Apple's peers are buying companies around AI, VR and robots, so Apple decides its a good idea to buy a fashionable brand that sells overpriced crappy headphones? That's what Tim Cook sees as the future?
 
I love how people are slamming both Dr Dre (who was smart enough to create something Apple would want) and Jimmy Iovine who is really a legend in the music industry. If you only know him from Beats or from American Idol, you have no clue...

And Beats has plenty of Aluminum headphones already.
 
They could spend 10% of their cash reserve on this company - this decision will not be made lightly. I also don't think it's Tim just trying to 'assert' himself and come out of Steve's shadow, so to speak. There's method to this apparent madness.

As others have said, they're buying it mainly for their streaming service. Now, they could bake this into iTunes Radio or keep Beats Music running separately for brand recognition. The fact it's a relatively new service makes me think they'll bring it under the Apple umbrella.

Apple and Beats have their own globally famous branding. I can't see Apple taking the iconic 'b' and replacing it with their own logo on the headphones. I think the Beats headphones will be left alone, and Apple may simply use them as a foundation for building future headphones and improving the speakers in Macs, iPads and iPhones. This happened with HP laptops and HTC phones, but I don't think for one second that Apple will add the Beats branding to their hardware as those companies did. Steve said in an interview he hated having stickers and such on his products. I personally don't care for the sound of Beats headphones, so I hope they alter the sound colouration if Apple use them as a basis for their own headphone designs.

As others have said too, this could be a great way to get 'inside' the music biz, securing better royalties for artists than Spotify, perhaps, to entice artists to come to Beats Music exclusively. This is a big bugbear with streaming services right now, and one Apple could easily fix with its large cash reserves.

These could all be terribly wrong guesses. The only certainty is that this won't be a bad move for Apple in the long-term. $3 billion is a LOT, even for Apple, and it wouldn't have been made without extensive analysis and research.
 
AlabamaSlammer said:
I don't know if this question has been asked already and if it has I apologize...

But how much are Beats headphones going to cost now $$???

With the Beats by Dre premium now tied in with the Apple premium pricing, these headphones could push $700 starting price...
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I didn't even buy them at today's cost. Just because there is a Apple logo will not change my opinion. That's why it's such a bad move. I even tried their music streaming app and it was not worth it.
 
img-1275071-1-6151643183_bb44330d71_z.jpg
 
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