I still think this has something to do with iWatch, rather than headphones or a streaming service that may not even allow Apple to 'take over' the music licences.
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Beats Co-Founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine Expected to Take on Senior Roles at Apple Following Acquisition
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I am not sure some of the people here are aware but like 90% of all products apple sell have a plug for headphones. It seems many of you simply do not comprehend this.
The headphone business makes more sense for 2014 apple than the Cinema Display business.
People act like a company who sells the most headphone holes in the world is a horrible fit with a company who sells a ton of headphone plugs.
So let's just stop pretending this is some weird deal like apple bought an air filter company or a thermostat company.
I didn't say they had the worst market share, I said it was their worst market share.
Could you explain how Apple's acquisition of Bose would make more sense than Beats?
Oh I guess it wasn't clear:
you probably meant "But wasn't their market share of smartphones their worst
I sure hope Apple isn't making a big branding as well as financial mistake. Cook is unlikely to be a Buffet and manage many acquisitions well. Few CEOs manage their acquisitions well.
Oh, and for everybody who seems to like Bose products, have you tried Grado, Audio Technics, Stax, Hi-Fi Man, Sennheiser headphones?
Regarding speakers, PSB, Paradigm, NHT, Mordaunt Short, Magnepan, B&W, Totem, Triangle, Sonus Faber, Wilson, Vandersteen, Thiel, old Quads should be first listed before being confident about the sound of Bose.
Some like Stax electrostatic headphones and B&W diamond speakers are very expensive, but Grado headphones can be $70 and PSB speakers can be $300/pair and sound incredibly good (with proper electronics like NAD, Arcam, Cambridge Audio, tube gear).
Oh, and for everybody who seems to like Bose products, have you tried Grado, Audio Technics, Stax, Hi-Fi Man, Sennheiser headphones?
Regarding speakers, PSB, Paradigm, NHT, Mordaunt Short, Magnepan, B&W, Totem, Triangle, Sonus Faber, Wilson, Vandersteen, Thiel, old Quads should be first listed before being confident about the sound of Bose.
Some like Stax electrostatic headphones and B&W diamond speakers are very expensive, but Grado headphones can be $70 and PSB speakers can be $300/pair and sound incredibly good (with proper electronics like NAD, Arcam, Cambridge Audio, tube gear).
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Combining Apples apparent interest in wearable technology, and their wanting to start a music streaming service, they announce a Beats headphone that directly, wirelessly, connects to the streaming music service.
Except Beats owns 60% of the premium headphone market and Beats gets better margins than Bose. Bose also has a extra baggage that Apple does not care for. Beats is the perfect fit for Apple. Nothing goes to waste.
This seems like a good move for Apple. If it happens. They are buying a business with
- solid earnings
- solid market share
- incredible brand loyalty (my son talks about Beats like I talk about Apple)
- and a service that seems set to grow
Ideally this should stay as a separate brand. I see Iovine (autocorrected to iodine) said when he created the Beats product he used Apple as a model. I think that shows. The fanboyism for Beats is huge. If they buy this then parallel this inside Apple I think they cover two markets.
In any light this seems like a great buy.
Have you noticed the young folks walking the streets wearing Beats. Iovine & Dre have created a stunner of a business. It appeals to Apple. Why should they sell for less than it's worth.
- solid earnings
- solid market share
- incredible brand loyalty (my son talks about Beats like I talk about Apple)
- and a service that seems set to grow
Ideally this should stay as a separate brand. I see Iovine (autocorrected to iodine) said when he created the Beats product he used Apple as a model. I think that shows. The fanboyism for Beats is huge. If they buy this then parallel this inside Apple I think they cover two markets.
In any light this seems like a great buy.
Have you noticed the young folks walking the streets wearing Beats. Iovine & Dre have created a stunner of a business. It appeals to Apple. Why should they sell for less than it's worth.
I agree. Beats is everywhere and not just among "thugs" and "urban people" like some in this thread seem to imply. It's a huge brand, with a huge following, with astute businessmen behind it.
In this thread, no one has supplied any viable reason as to why this is a bad acquisition. All you see over and over again is "beats suck" and/or racist comments.
Hey Apple. You don't need to pay so much for headphones to boost iTunes sales. It's as easy as 1…2…3… Lossless! Dummies. BTW I've got 150.00 Beyerdynamics that rape 'beats'. Apple is getting super cheezy so it does make sense to have Dre and Beiber hock the wares.
I signed up for beats audio free trial a couple of days ago and I just say, it's absolutely amazing. I am going to have no problem with becoming a payed customer in a few days. If this is what Apple is after, I completely understand this move. The headphones are plus and I'm sure Apple will invest the time to make them better.
If Bose and Sennheiser are not for sale, then how exactly would it make more sense for Apple to try to buy them?
Since there's not life and death depending on this, even though most of the previous 66625 comments make it sound so, I find it fun to watch and am looking forward to seeing what will result from this interesting and unexpected development.
And just a few months ago people were all whiny about Apple's lead consisting of older white males...
And just a few months ago people were all whiny about Apple's lead consisting of older white males...
I find this somewhat offensive. That's like saying 73% of black people prefer fried chicken. I see plenty of white people buying fried chicken all the time. Actually more than black people in my area of Northern Illinois.
Stop trying to tie race to electronics. It's bad enough with food.
Why does a fashionable fad like Beats make sense for Apple? For all we know 6 months from now Beats won't be fashionable. Google didn't buy a thermostat company, they infested in data, in the connected home, in the internet of things. Apple would be investing in an overpriced fad.
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So Apple is paying $3B to get more African Americans to buy iPhones? I have no comment.
There are also far better headphone brands. I don't know why Beats are even popular. They're overpriced crap.
I meant Bose seems more like Apple. Both Bose and Sennheiser are privately owned and family run so they probably are not for sale. Bose just seems more Apple than Beats.
If you don't why Beats are popular then I'm guessing you don't keep up with the hip hop industry?
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Apple isn't buying Beats because it's "more like them", Beats is a big brand that is highly established and not considered a niche product. Bose has always been considered a niche product and it's just not the reaching out to enough people.
I don't really keep up with it, but given the response, I can probably guess why they're popular. They're still terrible headphones compared to others out there.
Even if they just made all the presets global it would be a huge step forward. Instead only the "Late Night" preset is global? That's not arbitrary?!?
"I'm not racist...but"
You're completely ranting against a genre of music and subculture that grew out of the poor black areas (beginning in the South Bronx) and was completely dominated by black musicians for decades. Bringing issues such as "Ebonics" into your rant doesn't help your cause either.
Your references to an underlying "thug" mentality further demonstrates your ignorance on the subject on hiphop. The foundations of hiphop music in the 70's (and well into the 80's), were highly political lyrics (which are still prevalent today). The "Gangster" subgenre which you seem to be referring to did not come along until the late 80's on the west coast (and to a certain extent, the south) and is certainly not representative of hiphop music as a whole.
Besides all this, somewhere along the line people like Dr Dre worked out that the single biggest market for this so-called Gangster Rap was suburban white youth (not urban blacks) so maybe you should be examining the reasons as to why this might be instead of making generalisations about a whole genre of music and group of people.