Apple Confirms Its $3 Billion Deal for Beats Electronics • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple Confirms Its $3 Billion Deal for Beats Electronics

#221

Post by karmelapple » Wed, May 28, 2014, 10:49 PM UTC

keehun wrote: post #196

asimpletune wrote: post #161

I just want to go on record with an entirely different idea as to why Apple is buying beats. They're going to make a label. Why Apple doesn't do streaming: Apple hates committing to something unless it's absolutely perfect. There are numerous examples, but NFC technology is a good one that comes to mind. Granted, they've made mistakes, like Mobile Me, but that was due to poor implementation, rather than immature tech…

This is great. Too bad "Apple Records" is already taken......

As mentioned elsewhere, Apple Records no longer owns the rights to the name.

With Iovine involved, I think the above idea is a distinct possibility. Though it's funny how Macklemore made a song about his dislike for Iovine's attitude and hard bargains. The same could be said of Jobs for part of his life; he could be genuinely unpleasant, and drive very hard bargains.

Re: Apple Confirms Its $3 Billion Deal for Beats Electronics

#222

Post by rossjudson » Wed, May 28, 2014, 10:50 PM UTC

gareim wrote: post #25

Apple redefined the mp3 player market, the ultraportable laptop market, the smartphone market, the tablet market, and now they're buying a company that reinvented the higher-end headphone market. Is it smart of a brand that has traditionally created their own iconic images to buy another cultural icon for $3 billion? I don't think so. Maybe this gets used a lot, but would Steve Jobs have done this? Or would he have c…

One possibility: Apple intends to bring its quality and engineering expertise to bear on the Beats product line. They might be thinking that they can take the #1 seller and preserve that position indefinitely by decreasing the price and improving the quality. Apple's supply chain can probably result in better build quality (or a reduction in price for the current builds), and its engineering can probably bring better audio quality.

If "Beats Suck" turns into "Beats are Really Good, and Less Expensive", then they will lock up a good deal of the higher end headphone market.

There may also be some interesting exploration of what's possible with a headphone-based wearable. Plenty of room in that particular fashion accessory...much more so than in a watch.

Re: Apple Confirms Its $3 Billion Deal for Beats Electronics

#223

Post by forgottenpass » Wed, May 28, 2014, 10:51 PM UTC

callmeed wrote: post #198

Honest question: is there a statute of limitations on what the tech world will tolerate with regards to misogynistic behavior (or bad behavior in general)? Or do people just pick and choose what they want to fight? I ask because everyone rallied behind RadiumOne's CEO being canned after he beat up his girlfriend [0]. Similar with the Mozilla CEO (granted, the offense was different ... but it's interesting to point ou…

Dre doesn't get hounded because he doesn't pay lip service and apologize for who he is. For a quick explanation of the sociology at work see: http://partialobjects.com/2011/06/why-is-tracy-morgan-in-tro...

I'm not saying I like this, I'm saying this is the interpretation that seems to make the most sense.

Re: Apple Confirms Its $3 Billion Deal for Beats Electronics

#224

Post by IBM » Wed, May 28, 2014, 10:52 PM UTC

callmeed wrote: post #198

Honest question: is there a statute of limitations on what the tech world will tolerate with regards to misogynistic behavior (or bad behavior in general)? Or do people just pick and choose what they want to fight? I ask because everyone rallied behind RadiumOne's CEO being canned after he beat up his girlfriend [0]. Similar with the Mozilla CEO (granted, the offense was different ... but it's interesting to point ou…

That incident was 23 years ago and he did his time for it. He's also shown remorse for it and wishes it never happened.[0] He's a 49 year old man now and he's been married for 18 years. I think he's past that kind of stuff.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btc1MflBSeQ&feature=youtu.be...

Re: Apple Confirms Its $3 Billion Deal for Beats Electronics

#225

Post by bedhead » Wed, May 28, 2014, 10:52 PM UTC

Poor Logitech, a company I've always had a soft spot for. They used to be the king of the peripherals and even bought Ultimate Ears for $34 million back in 2008. Their audio business is probably their lowest margin segment and now Beats gets acquired for almost double Logitech's enterprise value. The power of brands...

Re: Apple Confirms Its $3 Billion Deal for Beats Electronics

#226

Post by Shivetya » Wed, May 28, 2014, 10:54 PM UTC

callmeed wrote: post #198

Honest question: is there a statute of limitations on what the tech world will tolerate with regards to misogynistic behavior (or bad behavior in general)? Or do people just pick and choose what they want to fight? I ask because everyone rallied behind RadiumOne's CEO being canned after he beat up his girlfriend [0]. Similar with the Mozilla CEO (granted, the offense was different ... but it's interesting to point ou…

Let me be blunt, we are all adults. He is in a favored minority category and as such he gets a pass unless he offends and even more favored minority group, simple as that. Society is shaped by those whose voices are the loudest, unfortunately some have learned to shout down others to the point there is no discussion permitted. When one side won't stop shouting to the point society accepts their position as the norm then where is society?

Re: Apple Confirms Its $3 Billion Deal for Beats Electronics

#227

Post by kareemsabri » Wed, May 28, 2014, 10:55 PM UTC

callmeed wrote: post #198

Honest question: is there a statute of limitations on what the tech world will tolerate with regards to misogynistic behavior (or bad behavior in general)? Or do people just pick and choose what they want to fight? I ask because everyone rallied behind RadiumOne's CEO being canned after he beat up his girlfriend [0]. Similar with the Mozilla CEO (granted, the offense was different ... but it's interesting to point ou…

I would argue that:

a) Dr. Dre is a performer. Rap, distasteful as you may find it, is performance art. It's the same as gangster movies. Would you object to Apple working with Scorcese? It's a character, albeit slightly autobiographical, but not much different than someone like Bukowski, IMO.

b) The Dr. Dre - Dee Barnes incident took place in 1991, almost 25 years ago. Should an isolated incident, for which he has made amends, haunt the man for the rest of his life? I don't think comparing it to the RadiumOne CEO, a current crime, is reasonable.

c) It would be rather hypocritical for Apple to profit off the musical talent of young black males creating "offensive" music, but not deign to work with them due to some moral qualms.

Re: Apple Confirms Its $3 Billion Deal for Beats Electronics

#228

Post by sehr » Wed, May 28, 2014, 10:56 PM UTC

lloeki wrote: post #194

smackfu wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the idea is that Beats expanded the market for $200-400 headphones. Yes, Sony sold headphones in that range, but they didn't sell them to every high school student who wanted to look cool.

No, at that price they sold to professionals and audiophiles who wanted the sound to actually sound properly, not muddy bass overflowing the mids and highs. Apple definitely bought the brand, not the headphone tech. Otherwise with such a cash stash they would have bought any of Beyerdynamic, Grado, Sennheiser, or the newer entries to headphones like Marshall (the Major is so-so but the Monitor is awesome)

Audiophile pretentiousness aside, the article barely even mentions the actual hardware. Probably bought them for the music service & industry connections

Re: Apple Confirms Its $3 Billion Deal for Beats Electronics

#229

Post by kapkapkap » Wed, May 28, 2014, 10:57 PM UTC

callmeed wrote: post #198

Honest question: is there a statute of limitations on what the tech world will tolerate with regards to misogynistic behavior (or bad behavior in general)? Or do people just pick and choose what they want to fight? I ask because everyone rallied behind RadiumOne's CEO being canned after he beat up his girlfriend [0]. Similar with the Mozilla CEO (granted, the offense was different ... but it's interesting to point ou…

FWIW youre quoting lyrics/album that is 22+ years old, People spend less time in prison than that for murder, I think he can+has moved on.

Re: Apple Confirms Its $3 Billion Deal for Beats Electronics

#230

Post by gtirloni » Wed, May 28, 2014, 10:58 PM UTC

abalone wrote: post #111

austenallred wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems a bit absurd to pay $3 Billion for an acquihire/component deal, but Apple has $145 Billion in the bank and just bought the most popular non-Apple name in music.

It's not that absurd when you factor in the profitability of the headphones business. It's interesting, not because Apple would overpay for what they wanted (they didn't), but because they looked past the most obvious aspect of Beats from a market valuation perspective to the relatively more startup-y aspects of it.

Isn't this SV bias? Beats is startup-y? With 300 employees and $1.5bn revenue?

Beats drives a successful marketing business (much like RedBull). I think Apple is buying that. Apple doesn't need to acquire expertise on how to build and sell luxury items.