Apple removes all Bose products from its online store
Following the news that a lawsuit between Apple's Beats and Bose had been settled, all Bose products -- including both headphones and speakers --?have been removed from Apple's online store.
A rumor first surfaced a week ago claiming that Apple was planning to remove Bose sound products from its stores. On Friday, that became a reality, when all of the company's headphones and speakers disappeared from the online storefront.
Though the products are no longer available for purchase, as of Friday afternoon queries such as "Bose Headphones" and "Bose Speaker System" still showed up in the search bar as suggested topics.
As of Friday, Bose products still showed up as suggested searches, but were not available to purchase through Apple.
As of last week, Apple's online store listed a total of 17 Bose products, including a range of SoundLink Bluetooth speakers, and its popular QuietComfort series of noise-canceling headphones.
It was Bose's noise-canceling technology that prompted the company to file a lawsuit against Beats in July, accusing its Studio and Studio Wireless series of infringing on its patents. But one week ago, Bose announced in court that it had settled its patent infringement lawsuit against Apple's Beats.
It's unknown whether the removal of Bose products from Apple's store was part of the terms of the settlement or if another reason was at play. The settlement between Beats and Bose remains confidential.
Bose products in Apple's store last week. As of Friday they were removed.
It could also be that Apple simply prefers to spotlight its own brand rather than competing products from Bose. The company purchased Beats for $3 billion -- Apple's largest-ever acquisition -- back in May.
Also a potential reason is a public spat between Apple's Beats brand and Bose over sponsorship deals. The National Football League has banned its players from wearing Beats products when conducting interviews, including 90 minutes following the end of a game, because of an exclusive partnership that has made Bose the official audio sponsor of the league.
The issue came to a head last week when it was revealed that the NFL had fined San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick $10,000 for wearing a pair of pink breast cancer awareness-themed Beats headphones at a post-game press conference.
Apple executive Jimmy Iovine, who cofounded Beats, commented on the controversy last week and said he was thankful for it, concluding that pressure from Bose has resulted in cheap publicity for Beats. He said that players are now putting black tape over the Beats logo to avoid fines from the NFL.
"It's like, I can't believe I'm this lucky," Iovine said. "I feel like sending them the tape."
A rumor first surfaced a week ago claiming that Apple was planning to remove Bose sound products from its stores. On Friday, that became a reality, when all of the company's headphones and speakers disappeared from the online storefront.
Though the products are no longer available for purchase, as of Friday afternoon queries such as "Bose Headphones" and "Bose Speaker System" still showed up in the search bar as suggested topics.
As of Friday, Bose products still showed up as suggested searches, but were not available to purchase through Apple.
As of last week, Apple's online store listed a total of 17 Bose products, including a range of SoundLink Bluetooth speakers, and its popular QuietComfort series of noise-canceling headphones.
It was Bose's noise-canceling technology that prompted the company to file a lawsuit against Beats in July, accusing its Studio and Studio Wireless series of infringing on its patents. But one week ago, Bose announced in court that it had settled its patent infringement lawsuit against Apple's Beats.
It's unknown whether the removal of Bose products from Apple's store was part of the terms of the settlement or if another reason was at play. The settlement between Beats and Bose remains confidential.
Bose products in Apple's store last week. As of Friday they were removed.
It could also be that Apple simply prefers to spotlight its own brand rather than competing products from Bose. The company purchased Beats for $3 billion -- Apple's largest-ever acquisition -- back in May.
Also a potential reason is a public spat between Apple's Beats brand and Bose over sponsorship deals. The National Football League has banned its players from wearing Beats products when conducting interviews, including 90 minutes following the end of a game, because of an exclusive partnership that has made Bose the official audio sponsor of the league.
The issue came to a head last week when it was revealed that the NFL had fined San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick $10,000 for wearing a pair of pink breast cancer awareness-themed Beats headphones at a post-game press conference.
Apple executive Jimmy Iovine, who cofounded Beats, commented on the controversy last week and said he was thankful for it, concluding that pressure from Bose has resulted in cheap publicity for Beats. He said that players are now putting black tape over the Beats logo to avoid fines from the NFL.
"It's like, I can't believe I'm this lucky," Iovine said. "I feel like sending them the tape."
Comments
That settles that!
No wonder the store was down so long this a.m. ;-)
Why'd they do that??!?!!?
Beats me...
groan
Bose doesn't need Apple. Headphones are not the dominant nor only revenue source for Bose.
The relationship between Apple & Bose is not symbiont.
Beats is the one standing to gain - from the relationship with Apple.
I love Apple - TD4 but I won't loose any sleep if Apple dropped Bose.
Bose doesn't need Apple. Headphones are not the dominant nor only revenue source for Bose.
The relationship between Apple & Bose is not symbiont.
Beats is the one standing to gain - from the relationship with Apple.
I love Apple - TD4 but I won't loose any sleep if Apple dropped Bose.
Apple is a huge sales channel of millions of customers worldwide, to say that Bose doesn't need Apple is an arrogant statement.
The loss of millions of dollars in sales just around the holiday shopping season is nothing to sneeze at.
The latest Safari update added 'DuckDuckGo' (which doesn't track you) to the list of default search engines. No more Google!
Bing has even been great for a while now. I haven’t used Google in years. Trying DDG on my clean installs; seems pretty simple right now.
I have it set as the default now on my iPad and iPhone. Nice to have it there.
Apple is a huge sales channel of millions of customers worldwide, to say that Bose doesn't need Apple is an arrogant statement.
The loss of millions of dollars in sales just around the holiday shopping season is nothing to sneeze at.
A definite +1 for this, InteliusQ!! I was "certain" that Bose settled to Keep their product in Apple stores.
I'd like to know what sort of deal was made, if any. Did Apple pay to break a contract with Bose or is there no strings keeping the two together? I could see an arrangement where Apple would pay for "damages" to their IP and then notify them that their product is out of Apple Stores. If Apple did pay, they are a hellava more upfront than Samedung (dragging out IP fights for years while they make profit).
Apple is a huge sales channel of millions of customers worldwide, to say that Bose doesn't need Apple is an arrogant statement.
The loss of millions of dollars in sales just around the holiday shopping season is nothing to sneeze at.
I never cease to be amazed at the foolishness of many consumers. It is trivially easy to find other vendors selling the same products that the Apple online store sells for less. You could be right that Bose loses "millions of dollars in sales" as a result of this, but that's a measure of the idiocy of the buying public.
Even though we don't actually know that answer. It could be either party that is responsible.
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