I’m leaving this one up to you folks! The pundits are weighing in on the announcement that Apple will be snatching up the love child of Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine for $3.2 Billion. The general consensus? No one really knows why Apple is making this move now, or what they really stand to gain from it.
It makes some sense following the announcement that the former head of the Nokia camera division was moving to Apple, that Cupertino is looking to make a bigger multimedia push for future devices, but if the Beats buyout is approved, it’ll mark Apple’s biggest acquisition in the company’s history.
Also, Beats recently bought out HTC’s stake in the company to fly solo. At the time they discussed diversifying the brand and moving into more professional audio solutions. An Apple buyout would seem to contradict those plans.
Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine Buy Beats Back From HTC
Drop me some comments below. What does Apple really stand to gain here? Does the Beats brand help restore some of Apple’s “cool factor”? Will consumers be more likely to consider Apple products if they come with Beat Audio?
Honestly, my readers out there are probably better informed than the pundits commenting on this story, so let’s speculate! Go nuts!
I don’t see a point here. Beats makes overrated, overpriced headphones and not much else. Unless Apple wants to turn them into more of a competitor for Bose, which will be hard to do.
I keep getting stuck on this idea of branding and ecosystem. Beats is a recognized brand with younger demos, a place where iOS is struggling a bit of late to build, and they are pushing into music streaming with apps on Android. Could be a nice way for Apple to monetize music on Android devices?