ok this alleged acquisition is starting to make sense to me.
Iovine is a genius and basically runs the music industry.
Reading through the comments suggest most of you don't even know who Dr. Dre is.
If Apple releases these headphones I hope they get the makeover treatment in both sound and durability. They feel and sound like cheap chinese products.
Iovine doesn't run the industry. That's a little far fetched. He only runs a small portion of the industry that he controls. I have more respect for Clive Davis than Iovine. Iovine is like a cheap imitation of Clive Davis. Iovine has produced a lot of these best of Anthology type compilations, which means he doesn't really do anything except choose a bunch of tracks to put on one album to sell the same content in different ways. i think Iovine is HIGHLY overrated. Only the kids today don't know much about who the REAL deal people are in the industry that are largely retired or have passed away for the new crop of lower level producers that put out crap music that use AutoTune as a means to sell a singer since they can't find singers that can really sing.
As far as Dr. Dre, who the F cares. he's just some producer that's responsible for putting out a bunch of c-rap music, he makes a lot of money from it and that's all he really does. Oh, and he drinks beer. He promotes Coors, but he drinks Henekin. Other than that, i have NO interest in knowing much more than that about him. He's been in some movies playing most likely a thug or himself. BIG DEAL.
There is not one single piece of music that I have in my growing library of music that he's been a part of. I wouldn't recommend listening to the crap he puts out and he's one of the losers that's responsible for putting out crap music polluting the kids growing up that largely don't know what REAL music is. Unfortunately. So, he's one of the musically ignorant perpetuating more musical ignorance. Great. just what we need.
Apple already sells crappy headphones, they just don't charge $200 for them.
Apple Store sells a variety of headphones like Beats, Bose, Harmon, B&W, B&O, etc. through their Apple stores, they don't make headphones, they make earbuds, but they only sell lower priced models and the 3rd party companies make the larger variety that range from $5 to $3000.
Apple only sells a certain price range through the Stores and on-line that caters more to the masses. I think the most expensive 3rd party headphone sold through the Apple Store is around $450. The higher end "audiophile" type products go through more specialty on-line stores and retail brick and mortar that cater to the more discriminating listeners that are more serious about sound quality. And a lot of the dirt cheap products get sold through WalMart, Target, Amazon. Then you have the products that cater to the recording industry that get sold through places like Sweetwater and other stores that cater to musicians, studios, etc. It's a VERY strange market for sure. Lots of products that cater to different price points, tastes and applications.
I think the iPhone was one of the few things from Apple that was mostly applauded. The iPod and IPad were declared proof that Apple had made huge mistakes and that was under Jobs. History shows those were brilliant moves but we can't know until after the fact. Even if we assume this rumour has some truth to it, for the sake of argument, we still don't know any details as to details that could make it a worthwhile purchase.
The iPod helped Apple capture a market and helped bring Apple to the forefront and iTunes helped Apple garner a substantial place in the market.
The iPhone changed the way we use cell phones.
The iPad changed the way we use computers.
I just don't see how buying Beats is that big of a deal. They'll make more money from selling headphones that are made under the Beats name, but that's not that much additional business. Only so many people that own an iPod, iPhone, iPad or a computer own a pair of decently priced $100+) headphones. The streaming music business, I'm not sure how much increased revenue they are going to make from it that Beats will contribute. Apple can certainly do their own subscription without Beats. Other than that, I don't see any tangible reason to buy Beats.
If true, this announcement is what one might call 'THINKing DIFFERENTly'.
It's kind of the opposite of thinking in my opinion. Something is wrong with iTunes (there have been stories lately about decreasing digital music sales), so instead of sitting down and racking your brain for months and months to come up with a solution (i.e. thinking), you just hire someone who already knows the business and convinces you of their vision and make him the new "VP of iTunes." Tim is such a CEO and not an engineer.
It's kind of the opposite of thinking in my opinion. Something is wrong with iTunes (there have been stories lately about decreasing digital music sales), so instead of sitting down and racking your brain for months and months to come up with a solution (i.e. thinking), you just hire someone who already knows the business and convinces you of their vision and make him the new "VP of iTunes." Tim is such a CEO and not an engineer.
Tim's undergraduate degree is Industrial Engineering. He's an Engineer.
Personally, I think that Apple would benefit from having a dedicated SVP of Music, and I think Iovine is the ideal choice. Not sure about the other guy. The first thing Iovine could do, is sort out iTunes, and the atrocious iOS music app. Leave Eddie Cue to concentrate on the app stores and maps.
I’m sure there's value to Apple in the streaming service assuming that the licenses are transferable. There seems to be varying opinions on this.
There is nothing to stop Apple from creating a record label at some point, with a roster of maybe 100 acts. Again, Iovine, would flourish in this role. The iTunes festival, might well, one day have a lineup consisting only of iTunes artists.
I’m struggling to see where the headphone business when fits in. Maybe it will get spun off or ran as a subsidiary.
$3.2bn seems a hell of a lot of money without seeing the bigger picture, but chump change compared to what we've seen spent elsewhere in the last 12 months.
Personally, I think that Apple would benefit from having a dedicated SVP of Music, and I think Iovine is the ideal choice. Not sure about the other guy. The first thing Iovine could do, is sort out iTunes, and the atrocious iOS music app. Leave Eddie Cue to concentrate on the app stores and maps.
I’m sure there's value to Apple in the streaming service assuming that the licenses are transferable. There seems to be varying opinions on this.
There is nothing to stop Apple from creating a record label at some point, with a roster of maybe 100 acts. Again, Iovine, would flourish in this role. The iTunes festival, might well, one day have a lineup consisting only of iTunes artists.
I’m struggling to see where the headphone business when fits in. Maybe it will get spun off or ran as a subsidiary.
$3.2bn seems a hell of a lot of money without seeing the bigger picture, but chump change compared to what we've seen spent elsewhere in the last 12 months.
Apple would benefit from having a dedicated SVP of Music, and I think Iovine is the ideal choice
Now, that's thinking out of the bandbox -- wow, I agree!
Personally, I think that Apple would benefit from having a dedicated SVP of Music, and I think Iovine is the ideal choice. Not sure about the other guy. The first thing Iovine could do, is sort out iTunes, and the atrocious iOS music app. Leave Eddie Cue to concentrate on the app stores and maps.
I’m sure there's value to Apple in the streaming service assuming that the licenses are transferable. There seems to be varying opinions on this.
There is nothing to stop Apple from creating a record label at some point, with a roster of maybe 100 acts. Again, Iovine, would flourish in this role. The iTunes festival, might well, one day have a lineup consisting only of iTunes artists.
I’m struggling to see where the headphone business when fits in. Maybe it will get spun off or ran as a subsidiary.
$3.2bn seems a hell of a lot of money without seeing the bigger picture, but chump change compared to what we've seen spent elsewhere in the last 12 months.
Music to me seems so last decade. Apple spending $3B to get a Spotify competitor when they probably should have anticipated streaming music would become popular long before now bothers me.
Looking forward to Dre taking stage at the keynote, calling everyone a n***** and a a motherf***er, putting down other rappers! talking about how good guns and drugs are and who he is going to shoot. Let's hope a lot of these rumours aren't true.
AIR, the year was 2008. We had just finished merging the iTunes files from all the family's (5 people) computers/users onto a dedicated 2 TeraByte external drive -- thousands of songs and many, many playlists. Then the first headless iPod shuffle arrived. So many options, what to do ... what to do? There was an option where you could let iTunes randomly choose the songs to install on an iPod Shuffle ... Oh, what the hell -- do it! What a pleasant experience -- I heard songs I never would have picked, but just seemed right. I heard (new fav) songs that I'd never heard before, like "Come Dancing" by The Kinks ... What a pleasant experience!
[B][U]Long story, long:[/U][/B]
AIR, it was last night! A few weeks ago, my granddaughter, Marlowe, drove up to Fisherman's Wharf -- and has been taunting us, ever since, about the fresh clam chowder she had. Yesterday, we went to CostCo and picked up 9 lbs ($40, worth in 2 packages -- each the size of a football) of fresh littleneck clams. Marlowe was going to cook fresh clam chowder for 4 (her mother loves seafood, but is allergic). I was watching the NBA playoffs in the familyroom open to the kitchen. Marlowe had about an hours worth of prep/cooking to do -- out of courtesy to her mom, she asked me if she could switch the TV to AppleTV and play one of her mom's favorite jazz playlists.
Fine with me -- then I told Marlowe about the Beats app, how great it was and showed her a little on my iPad. She was distracted, said that she had to get back to her cooking -- but would look into the Beats app later.
The evening progressed, family members wandering in and out, helping by peeling potatoes, chopping onions, tasting, setting the table, critiquing, bickering ... we all contribute like this when the family makes tacos, homemade pasta, pirogue, lahmajoon ...
All the while, the AppleTV was creating the perfect mood -- playing the relaxing music of Billie Holiday, Ella, Frank ,,, The Mormons have a saying: "Happiness is family home evening" -- that's what this was.
The clam chowder was fantastic (the wine was pretty good, too). We all helped clean up -- then switched the TV back to the NBA playoffs.
This morning, I was lying in bed, playing with Beats ... I wonder ... (sound of hand slapping forehead). What If I had let Beats select the music on my iPad and AirPlayed it to the AppleTV? Duh!
Ella, Frank, Billie, Carmen, Harry Connick, Diana Krall ...
I just read more interview and info on Jimmy. And i still not convinced.
He keeps talking about feel of music and what not. All those pitch are great. But the simple fact is Beats is not even good quality headphone for Christ sake. And he mentioned EarPod sounds crap, and Steve like it sounds flat. Well may be Jimmy has a special taste on Bass? Because apart from Bass nothing in Beats Headphone is good. And the Earpod is one of the best free headphone i have had over the years!
I dont think Apple is doomed is they dont release larger size iPhone. I dont think apple is doomed if they even buy Beats for 3.2B just for talents and streaming services.
But if Apple is buying Beats because they think they have good headphones? I think that is a problem. Because that fundamentally disrupt my view on Apple's quality and value.
Personally, I think that Apple would benefit from having a dedicated SV
P of Music, and I think Iovine is the ideal choice. Not sure about the other guy. The first thing Iovine could do, is sort out iTunes, and the atrocious iOS music app. Leave Eddie Cue to concentrate on the app stores and maps.
I’m sure there's value to Apple in the streaming service assuming that the licenses are transferable. There seems to be varying opinions on this.
There is nothing to stop Apple from creating a record label at some point, with a roster of maybe 100 acts. Again, Iovine, would flourish in this role. The iTunes festival, might well, one day have a lineup consisting only of iTunes artists.
I’m struggling to see where the headphone business when fits in. Maybe it will get spun off or ran as a subsidiary.
$3.2bn seems a hell of a lot of money without seeing the bigger picture, but chump change compared to what we've seen spent elsewhere in the last 12 months.
Music to me seems so last decade. Apple spending $3B to get a Spotify competitor when they probably should have anticipated streaming music would become popular long before now bothers me.
Yeah, but you, and most here, are all last decade (me, last century). The kids of today, for better or worse, are different -- and they are the customers of the future.
I haven't, yet, tried the social components of iBeats -- but I get the impression that it has the potential of more than just following what others are doing. It seems that it could almost be a real-time multiplayer game.
Comments
ok this alleged acquisition is starting to make sense to me.
Iovine is a genius and basically runs the music industry.
Reading through the comments suggest most of you don't even know who Dr. Dre is.
If Apple releases these headphones I hope they get the makeover treatment in both sound and durability. They feel and sound like cheap chinese products.
Iovine doesn't run the industry. That's a little far fetched. He only runs a small portion of the industry that he controls. I have more respect for Clive Davis than Iovine. Iovine is like a cheap imitation of Clive Davis. Iovine has produced a lot of these best of Anthology type compilations, which means he doesn't really do anything except choose a bunch of tracks to put on one album to sell the same content in different ways. i think Iovine is HIGHLY overrated. Only the kids today don't know much about who the REAL deal people are in the industry that are largely retired or have passed away for the new crop of lower level producers that put out crap music that use AutoTune as a means to sell a singer since they can't find singers that can really sing.
As far as Dr. Dre, who the F cares. he's just some producer that's responsible for putting out a bunch of c-rap music, he makes a lot of money from it and that's all he really does. Oh, and he drinks beer. He promotes Coors, but he drinks Henekin. Other than that, i have NO interest in knowing much more than that about him. He's been in some movies playing most likely a thug or himself. BIG DEAL.
There is not one single piece of music that I have in my growing library of music that he's been a part of. I wouldn't recommend listening to the crap he puts out and he's one of the losers that's responsible for putting out crap music polluting the kids growing up that largely don't know what REAL music is. Unfortunately. So, he's one of the musically ignorant perpetuating more musical ignorance. Great. just what we need.
Apple already sells crappy headphones, they just don't charge $200 for them.
Apple Store sells a variety of headphones like Beats, Bose, Harmon, B&W, B&O, etc. through their Apple stores, they don't make headphones, they make earbuds, but they only sell lower priced models and the 3rd party companies make the larger variety that range from $5 to $3000.
Apple only sells a certain price range through the Stores and on-line that caters more to the masses. I think the most expensive 3rd party headphone sold through the Apple Store is around $450. The higher end "audiophile" type products go through more specialty on-line stores and retail brick and mortar that cater to the more discriminating listeners that are more serious about sound quality. And a lot of the dirt cheap products get sold through WalMart, Target, Amazon. Then you have the products that cater to the recording industry that get sold through places like Sweetwater and other stores that cater to musicians, studios, etc. It's a VERY strange market for sure. Lots of products that cater to different price points, tastes and applications.
I think the iPhone was one of the few things from Apple that was mostly applauded. The iPod and IPad were declared proof that Apple had made huge mistakes and that was under Jobs. History shows those were brilliant moves but we can't know until after the fact. Even if we assume this rumour has some truth to it, for the sake of argument, we still don't know any details as to details that could make it a worthwhile purchase.
The iPod helped Apple capture a market and helped bring Apple to the forefront and iTunes helped Apple garner a substantial place in the market.
The iPhone changed the way we use cell phones.
The iPad changed the way we use computers.
I just don't see how buying Beats is that big of a deal. They'll make more money from selling headphones that are made under the Beats name, but that's not that much additional business. Only so many people that own an iPod, iPhone, iPad or a computer own a pair of decently priced $100+) headphones. The streaming music business, I'm not sure how much increased revenue they are going to make from it that Beats will contribute. Apple can certainly do their own subscription without Beats. Other than that, I don't see any tangible reason to buy Beats.
If true, this announcement is what one might call 'THINKing DIFFERENTly'.
It's kind of the opposite of thinking in my opinion. Something is wrong with iTunes (there have been stories lately about decreasing digital music sales), so instead of sitting down and racking your brain for months and months to come up with a solution (i.e. thinking), you just hire someone who already knows the business and convinces you of their vision and make him the new "VP of iTunes." Tim is such a CEO and not an engineer.
It's kind of the opposite of thinking in my opinion. Something is wrong with iTunes (there have been stories lately about decreasing digital music sales), so instead of sitting down and racking your brain for months and months to come up with a solution (i.e. thinking), you just hire someone who already knows the business and convinces you of their vision and make him the new "VP of iTunes." Tim is such a CEO and not an engineer.
Tim's undergraduate degree is Industrial Engineering. He's an Engineer.
That's way more than they earn in their cash and also cheaper than any bond they have issued.
They get Jimmy Iovine, Dre, and the streaming service to kick start an iTunes streaming service on top if that.
What's not to like?
Personally, I think that Apple would benefit from having a dedicated SVP of Music, and I think Iovine is the ideal choice. Not sure about the other guy. The first thing Iovine could do, is sort out iTunes, and the atrocious iOS music app. Leave Eddie Cue to concentrate on the app stores and maps.
I’m sure there's value to Apple in the streaming service assuming that the licenses are transferable. There seems to be varying opinions on this.
There is nothing to stop Apple from creating a record label at some point, with a roster of maybe 100 acts. Again, Iovine, would flourish in this role. The iTunes festival, might well, one day have a lineup consisting only of iTunes artists.
I’m struggling to see where the headphone business when fits in. Maybe it will get spun off or ran as a subsidiary.
$3.2bn seems a hell of a lot of money without seeing the bigger picture, but chump change compared to what we've seen spent elsewhere in the last 12 months.
Now, that's thinking out of the bandbox -- wow, I agree!
Sorry but mediocre headphones ain't an iPod. What's sad is that they didn't even buy a good headphone company!
What's next for Timmy? Monster Cables? Maybe FUBU? Some other bling company?
Tim Cook really is one of the worst leaders that Apple could have picked.
They need to bring back Scott Forstall. Now that guy had a vision! Too bad Timmy axed him because he was his only competition.
What exactly is wrong with Tim Cook? Who would be better? How would they be better?
Tell us exactly what vision Scott Forestall had? It seems like all he did was piss everyone off at Apple.
I just opened ai to find this as the most recent headline and a Sennheiser add above...
Add...or ad?
AIR, the year was 2008. We had just finished merging the iTunes files from all the family's (5 people) computers/users onto a dedicated 2 TeraByte external drive -- thousands of songs and many, many playlists. Then the first headless iPod shuffle arrived. So many options, what to do ... what to do? There was an option where you could let iTunes randomly choose the songs to install on an iPod Shuffle ... Oh, what the hell -- do it! What a pleasant experience -- I heard songs I never would have picked, but just seemed right. I heard (new fav) songs that I'd never heard before, like "Come Dancing" by The Kinks ... What a pleasant experience!
[B][U]Long story, long:[/U][/B]
AIR, it was last night! A few weeks ago, my granddaughter, Marlowe, drove up to Fisherman's Wharf -- and has been taunting us, ever since, about the fresh clam chowder she had. Yesterday, we went to CostCo and picked up 9 lbs ($40, worth in 2 packages -- each the size of a football) of fresh littleneck clams. Marlowe was going to cook fresh clam chowder for 4 (her mother loves seafood, but is allergic). I was watching the NBA playoffs in the familyroom open to the kitchen. Marlowe had about an hours worth of prep/cooking to do -- out of courtesy to her mom, she asked me if she could switch the TV to AppleTV and play one of her mom's favorite jazz playlists.
Fine with me -- then I told Marlowe about the Beats app, how great it was and showed her a little on my iPad. She was distracted, said that she had to get back to her cooking -- but would look into the Beats app later.
The evening progressed, family members wandering in and out, helping by peeling potatoes, chopping onions, tasting, setting the table, critiquing, bickering ... we all contribute like this when the family makes tacos, homemade pasta, pirogue, lahmajoon ...
All the while, the AppleTV was creating the perfect mood -- playing the relaxing music of Billie Holiday, Ella, Frank ,,, The Mormons have a saying: "Happiness is family home evening" -- that's what this was.
The clam chowder was fantastic (the wine was pretty good, too). We all helped clean up -- then switched the TV back to the NBA playoffs.
This morning, I was lying in bed, playing with Beats ... I wonder ... (sound of hand slapping forehead). What If I had let Beats select the music on my iPad and AirPlayed it to the AppleTV? Duh!
Ella, Frank, Billie, Carmen, Harry Connick, Diana Krall ...
[IMG ALT=""]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/42980/width/500/height/1000[/IMG]
Wouldn't it be great if iBeats could stream a mixture, say 60/40, of[I] in-our-library[/I] and [I]not-in-our-library[/I] tunes -- add a little spice.
This is a match made in heaven iBeats for AirPlay/AppleTV!
Jimmy is right on -- iBeats knows what the next song is [should be].
I just read more interview and info on Jimmy. And i still not convinced.
He keeps talking about feel of music and what not. All those pitch are great. But the simple fact is Beats is not even good quality headphone for Christ sake. And he mentioned EarPod sounds crap, and Steve like it sounds flat. Well may be Jimmy has a special taste on Bass? Because apart from Bass nothing in Beats Headphone is good. And the Earpod is one of the best free headphone i have had over the years!
I dont think Apple is doomed is they dont release larger size iPhone. I dont think apple is doomed if they even buy Beats for 3.2B just for talents and streaming services.
But if Apple is buying Beats because they think they have good headphones? I think that is a problem. Because that fundamentally disrupt my view on Apple's quality and value.
Beats has a lot of very cool and very well designed products.
They are actually much more like Apple than I thought... Even their fans are as passionate...
Beats owns an aspect of the music world that Apple needs and now is a very good time to get it.
This deal will go through and it will propel Apple to new heights...
Yeah, but you, and most here, are all last decade (me, last century). The kids of today, for better or worse, are different -- and they are the customers of the future.
I haven't, yet, tried the social components of iBeats -- but I get the impression that it has the potential of more than just following what others are doing. It seems that it could almost be a real-time multiplayer game.