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Apple Confirms Its $3 Billion Deal for Beats Electronics

nytimes.com

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

#301

Post by balbaugh »

I don't understand why everyone has focused so much on the beats headphones side of the acquisition instead of the fact the this is a way for apple to get into the streaming market without having to negotiate from the get go with labels who have been weary of them gaining even more control in the music market. When they negotiated the deals for iTunes they were not even a blip on the radar in the eyes of record labels. Sure, the headphones are the immediate value with the price margin, etc. But, in the end, I see the biggest benefit being gained from an apple backed streaming service.

REMEMBER, Apple didn't create iTunes, they bought it.

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

#302

Post by jader201 »

gtirloni wrote: post #230
abalone wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yet they need expertise in marketing?

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

#303

Post by nashequilibrium »

chondos wrote: post #273
IBM wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

He has learned to control his public image sure, but most of his lyrics of music that he has written, performed, and produced (even presently) seems very much misogynistic. Look, we've got stories all over about the #YesAllWomen phenomenon on twitter currently. All the women asking for equality and stating that they have been sexually harassed/abused/assaulted in some way. Now in this story we have someone who holds…

"If people listen to rap music enough, they start to emulate the language, treatment and other thought patterns being drilled into their brains (it's voluntary brainwash/ thought programming really)."

I think Ben Horowitz will disagree with you, a couple of other VCs as well!

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

#304

Post by snowwrestler »

sz4kerto wrote: post #42
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…

> reinvented the higher-end headphone marke There's zero high-endness about Beats headphones. They're all right (at least if they were priced around 30% of their current price), but really, they don't sound particularly good.

The fundamental mistake that audio geeks make with Beats is to think that the best headphone delivers a flat response.

Beats headphones are not designed to deliver music accurately, they are designed to make it sound cooler.

Beats is like the Instagram of music. Yeah, you'll get an objectively higher quality from Photoshop, but Instagram is easier to use and makes things look cool.

Apparently there are quality issues with Beats, but that is exactly the sort of problem that Apple is well-equipped to solve.

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

#305

Post by nashequilibrium »

Bottom Line, if this was beats by Jack Dorsey, everyone would be jumping up and down but its a black rapper and everyone is confused. The first thing everyone said was a difference in culture. My experience at a fortune 50 marketing firms let's me know right away that this is a premium brand across the globe. Their headphones are priced at such a high premium and their brand recognition as cool and worn by celebrities and top sports stars, across sporting lines from european soccer to swimmers coming out at the olympics.

Lets cut the bullshit, we all know why everyone is scratching their heads, because this is not a 22yr old hoodie wearing white hacker. Close your eyes and picture "Beats by Jack Dorsey" and u will know what i am talking about. Some fool will post how this is not true, downvote the post et cetera, but it is what it is!

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

#306

Post by rimantas »

jseliger wrote: post #151
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…

The consumer market believes that Beats and Bose are king though To be fair, from what I've read Bose has the best noise cancelling system, albeit at a high price. I'm not incredibly persnickety about audio quality and don't think I can tell the difference among various "good" headphones. But I have a pair of Bose headphones and like them.

I recently got Bose QuietComfort 20i for my trip from Europe to Australia. It was expensive, but so worth it. That constant humming noise on the plane usually makes me incapable of doing anything. With these earphones—you flip the switch and the magic happens. Especially on the flight from Singapore to Perth which was very smooth (no turbulence) it felt like just sitting in a room and listening to music. Watching movies on the plane also became much more enjoyable, with headphones offered by airline you need to turn volume almost to the max. You need an adaptor for airline headphones jack though.

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

#307

Post by nashequilibrium »

saaaaaam wrote: post #277

I don't know the etiquette of posting here, but I just wrote quite a long response to a comment by JumpCrisscross who says that the meat of the deal is the headphones business rather than the streaming business. I don't know if that comment best lost in a tree of other comments, so I thought I'd repost it here. But I disagree absolutely with that point of view. The meat of this deal is absolutely the streaming servic…

Why is this comment downvoted, look at the top comment, this is why i hardly set foot on HN any more, the top comment is some guy talking about a 1991 fight but its the top comment. Sigh!

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

#308

Post by sanxiyn »

higherpurpose wrote: post #63
6thSigma wrote: post #37

I would have never guessed that Apple's largest acquisition ever would be Beats.

Me neither. They could be doing so much smarter acquisition for that money, or much less, such as buying Imagination, and creating their own fully integrated SoCs, with both CPU and GPU.

They probably are working on their own GPU anyway. They don't need Imagination for that.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/05/31/apples-graphics-ch...

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

#309

Post by ForHackernews »

dublinben wrote: post #186
B-Con wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's plummeting because it's run by in outdated ways by companies that haven't adapted to new technology. A forward-thinking company that embraces technology would have some advantages.

A company like Pandora or Spotify? Two debt-financed companies that still can't turn a profit from music.

Or Google Play store, for that matter.

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

#310

Post by morenoh149 »

chondos wrote: post #273
IBM wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

He has learned to control his public image sure, but most of his lyrics of music that he has written, performed, and produced (even presently) seems very much misogynistic. Look, we've got stories all over about the #YesAllWomen phenomenon on twitter currently. All the women asking for equality and stating that they have been sexually harassed/abused/assaulted in some way. Now in this story we have someone who holds…

I second the sentiment. But honestly that dangerous (drugs) and violent imagery is what entertain and excites our imaginations our most base desires.
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