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Looks by Dr. Dre

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Re: Looks by Dr. Dre

#41

Post by moheeb »

paulgerhardt wrote: post #39

As nerd-ragey as some people are about the Beats deal, they have some amazing fit and finish with regards to manufacturing. See for instance their paint: most painted plastics experience an undesirable amount of "orange peeling" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_peel_(effect) ). This is caused in part by not getting the temperature of the paint high enough to form a smooth finish. Metal can withstand significantl…

"Next time you roll into a Best Buy, compare the 'shinyness' and 'smoothness' of Beats to any other product"

Yeah...just don't compare the sound.

Re: Looks by Dr. Dre

#42

Post by sparkie »

nrzuk wrote: post #17

This article lost me at the part suggesting that Dre Beats are premium headphones. Having listened to a few different sets of these "cool" headphones I can personally think they are overpriced crap, don't think they are worth more than £20-30 tops simply based on audio quality. People are simply buying them as a fashion item!

http://www.commitstrip.com/en/page/31/

Re: Looks by Dr. Dre

#43

Post by dm2 »

bjt wrote: post #28

While I don't disagree with anything in the article, I think it, and most commentators, are thinking too small. When thinking about wearable computing, one big challenge is to take a small, weird-shaped form factor, like sunglasses or watches, and cram enough computer hardware in there to support all the features that people want. Why not stick a computer in the headphones? Between the earmuffs and the headband, ther…

A bluetooth connection to the phone would be a much better option in my opinion.

Re: Looks by Dr. Dre

#44

Post by jrlocke »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #34
tptacek wrote: post #2

The more closely you look at Beats, the more they make sense as a serious asset to a consumer electronics company, and the less plausible the "Apple just needed to get a streaming service off the ground" story is. Two more angles to consider: * Owning Beats puts Apple hardware on the heads of a huge fraction of every mobile user, whether they use iOS or not. Having a Beats brand affinity for those users makes it easi…

My theory on confusion over the Beats purchase is that Apple fanboys have a reluctance to admit that Apple is significantly a fashion company. Not the beacon of technical excellence(asterisk) they set it up to be in their mind. The reality is that Beats is also primarily a fashion company. Also with a strong brand. Also with a product line that sells at a high markup. They go together like pancakes and maple syrup. I…

Apple's original success does not stem from fashion, but rather from their OS being the most accessible alternative to Windows for non-technical users--driving huge profits selling hardware.

Re: Looks by Dr. Dre

#45

Post by Crito »

moheeb wrote: post #41
paulgerhardt wrote: post #39

As nerd-ragey as some people are about the Beats deal, they have some amazing fit and finish with regards to manufacturing. See for instance their paint: most painted plastics experience an undesirable amount of "orange peeling" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_peel_(effect) ). This is caused in part by not getting the temperature of the paint high enough to form a smooth finish. Metal can withstand significantl…

" Next time you roll into a Best Buy, compare the 'shinyness' and 'smoothness' of Beats to any other product " Yeah...just don't compare the sound.

The sound on Beats is actually good; much better than what most people have with their headphones so most users will experience an improvement by switching to them.

The problem is that the cost:sound ratio is poor; you can find cheaper headphones with the same quality and you can find much better headphones for the same price.

Re: Looks by Dr. Dre

#46

Post by nirvanatikku »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #37
moskie wrote: post #23

It is so amazing to watch the attention that people give Apple's business decisions. Seriously, how much their actions get read into is unparalleled. Any other company, we'd just say "yup, they bought a headphone company, and now they'll be selling some more/different headphones" and then we'd move on. But with Apple, it just must, must represent some form of tidal shift.

Because unlike most other big tech companies Apple doesn't make big purchases like this. They normally acquire small, unknown companies which are focussed on a specific technology Apple needs (mapping for example).

@moskie - it is indeed amazing, and it's part of their engine that makes them truly unique (that it has been this way for so long, and continues to be just as talked about).

@k-mcgrady: true, but if you look at what percentage of their cash they spent on it, it's not as significant as acquisitions from other, similarly sized companies.. but your point remains: it is out of the ordinary for $aapl.

Re: Looks by Dr. Dre

#47

Post by jaegerpicker »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #34
tptacek wrote: post #2

The more closely you look at Beats, the more they make sense as a serious asset to a consumer electronics company, and the less plausible the "Apple just needed to get a streaming service off the ground" story is. Two more angles to consider: * Owning Beats puts Apple hardware on the heads of a huge fraction of every mobile user, whether they use iOS or not. Having a Beats brand affinity for those users makes it easi…

My theory on confusion over the Beats purchase is that Apple fanboys have a reluctance to admit that Apple is significantly a fashion company. Not the beacon of technical excellence(asterisk) they set it up to be in their mind. The reality is that Beats is also primarily a fashion company. Also with a strong brand. Also with a product line that sells at a high markup. They go together like pancakes and maple syrup. I…

"have a reluctance to admit that Apple is significantly a fashion company. Not the beacon of technical excellence they set it up to be in their mind."

This is a false dichotomy, the idea that Apple is either a fashion company or a Tech leader. Why can't they be both? Yes they make products that are fashionably designed but, IMO, they are clearly also a leader if not the leader in consumer technical excellence.

Re: Looks by Dr. Dre

#48

Post by jarek »

tptacek wrote: post #38
InclinedPlane wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My theory on confusion over the Beats purchase is that Apple fanboys have a reluctance to admit that Apple is significantly a fashion company. Not the beacon of technical excellence(asterisk) they set it up to be in their mind. The reality is that Beats is also primarily a fashion company. Also with a strong brand. Also with a product line that sells at a high markup. They go together like pancakes and maple syrup. I…

To the extent that you can say the exact same thing about Porsche, I agree; just bear in mind that it takes more than a sense of style to execute on "Porsche". But also look how Apple integrates downmarket. To a first approximation nobody's first car is a Porsche, but the less expensive iPhones are viable first smartphones. There's something powerful about being able, at least in theory, to address the whole market t…

I would suggest that it's more that an upmarket of mobile phones doesn't really exist right now. Pretty much everyone has the same thing. Who's the Porsche or the Rolls of mobile? To a first approximation, much of the first world can afford a 5S if they really want one. Vertu? Heh.

Re: Looks by Dr. Dre

#49

Post by flarg »

I wonder if it's really about penetration into music videos. I remember iPods being all over music videos for a few years back in the day (made my recently purchased iPod go from geeky to cool overnight!) - but then they disappeared - maybe because of Apple's battles with the music industry. Now it's Beats in every music related video, PA, media asset; something Apple needs to tap back in to, I guess.

Re: Looks by Dr. Dre

#50

Post by [deleted] »

pling wrote: post #20
bwy wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to agree somewhat with this comment. In particular, is handling 60 SKU's really a huge problem with technology and management nowadays? It's a pity there's so much focus on small details like that and the color selection, because that's really not the main point, which the article does touch on - the two companies understand and heavily influence the consumer market and fashion, so the partnership makes sense.…

Handling 60 SKUs of similar products is a big problem. Multi-variant stock control and supply chain management is troublesome at best. If one of your stores runs out of green widgets and another one only has red widgets until Tuesday, how do you reliably sell red and green ones to customers who want one without buying so much stock that you are then at risk of a loss when it is end-of-lined? Too late, the customer ha…

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