It’s
not yet official until Apple confirm it, but it’s the talk of the town and the still
shocked Apple Fanboy crowd in Jamaica!
I’m
of course talking about Apple’s alledged purchase of Beats Electronics, co-owned by Music
Industry Veterans Jimmy Iovine and Rapper Andre Romelle Young aka Dr. Dre
for US$3.2 billion as reported in “'First
Billionaire in hip hop' Dre boasts of Apple-Beat deal on Facebook”,
published May 9, 2014 4:04 AM PDT by Luke Westaway, CNET News and “APPLE
TO THROW DOWN $3.2 BILLION FOR BEATS ELECTRONICS (UPDATE: DR. DRE BRAGS ON
VIDEO)”, published May 9, 2014 By Ryan Waniata, Digitaltrends.
Not
sure how true this is, but you can listen to the ranting of the Producer known
by his nom de plume Dr. Dre and his
music producer compadre, Tyrese
Gibson as they talk %&*@# about their deal. As the report confirms, he may
technically be Hip-Hop’s first Billionaire, by default….so move over Beyonce
and Jay-Z!
These
reports, all based on mumbling from Reuters as chronicled in “Apple
close to buying Beats for $3.2 billion: source”, published Friday May 9,
2014 7:47pm EDT by NADIA DAMOUNI, CHRISTINA FARR AND NICOLA LESKE, Reuters, are what make this story credible
enough even to put pen to paper.
Apple splurges on Beats
Electronics – Sets Record for the Most spent to acquire a company
The
article “Apple
in talks for $3.2bn Beats deal”, published May 8, 2014 10:45 pm By Matthew
Garrahan in Los Angeles and Tim Bradshaw, Financial
Times details all of their acquisitions thus far. Based on their stats, it
would appear that Beats by far is the most Apple has ever paid for ANY company.
Even
if you go back as far as their acquisition of NeXT Computing from them ouster
and returned Apple CEO Steve Jobs as chronicled in my Geezam blog article entitled “Steve Jobs
Resigns as Apple CEO – Fourteen years of Innovation with an “I””.
So
for Apple, albeit not as eye popping as Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp for
US$19 billion earlier in February 2014 as stated in my blog article
entitled “Facebook
acquires WhatsApp for US$19 Billion - CEO Jan Koum Revelry will fade once faced
with BBM and Google+, Guardians of the Galaxy of Mobile Social Networks”,
it is a very BIG deal for them, given their frugality in spending on acquiring
Technology from other companies.
The
price sounds about right, as in September 2013 a VC (Venture Capital) company
pumped US$500 into Beats Electronics,
placing its value on Music Industry Veterans Jimmy Iovine and Rapper Andre Romelle Young aka Dr. Dre
co-owned Beats Electronics in the US$1
billion range. This despite previous run in with Taiwanese company HTC, which
I’ll of course share below.
HTC
bought half of the company for approximately US$309 million, in August 2011,
only to withdraw in July 2012 von reports of weak profitability from their
investment in Beats Electronics as
told in “Is
Apple's Beats buy just a Remix of HTC's mistake?” published May 8, 2014
5:08 PM PDT by Roger Cheng, CNET News.
Apple and Beats by Dr.
Dre – Resurrecting Apple iTunes Radio and Apple Earbuds
Don’t
get me wrong here. Beats Electronics,
despite the high-brow Experts on Wall Street, is indeed worth US$3.2 billion as
stated in “Beats
By Dr. Dre is Worth $3.2 Billion, Especially To Apple”, published 5/16/2014 10:17AM by Hugh McIntyre, Forbes.
That
value isn’t based on what the company has that Apple doesn’t, as their customer
bases overlap as noted in “Why
Apple does wants Beats? no one really seems to know”, published May 10,
2014 4:00 AM PDT by Shara Tibken and Joan E. Solsman, CNET News.
Right
now, at this point in time, Beats
Electronics products have that je na
sais quoi quality that speaks to the customer and makes them open up their
wallet, as they know that Beats by Dr. Dre, like Apple products, are worth the
cash. Apple valuation is thus sport on; HTC and other have merely undervalued
the company, focusing on the physical and not on the Brand Value of the company
and its ability to gain traction with Apple customer who has a similar mindset.
I
love Beats Electronics, especially
their pricey US$449 high-end Beats by Dr. Dre Headphones and US$99 Beats by Dr.
Dre. Earbuds and I know that they’ve had quite a healthy relationship with
Apple as noted in “Apple
said to be in talks to buy Beats Electronics for $3.2B” ,published May 8, 2014 3:05 PM PDT by Nick Statt, CNET News.
Their
most popular headphones, the Beats By Dr. Dre Headphones, have been carried in Apple
Stores for quite awhile as an option to Apple’s own Earbuds as described in my Geezam blog article entitled “Apple
patents Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds as Wireless Bluetooth Speakers take Flight”.
Clearly
Apple may have purchased Beats Electronics
as they’re fretting about their recent decline in Download sales of Music from
their Apple iTunes Store, based on a report by
the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) as condensed in my Geezam blog article entitled “Apple
iOS 8 may free Apple iTunes Radio on Google Play Store”.
So
acquiring Beats Electronics would
allow them to get their mittens on Beats Audio and their 200,000 member strong
and rapidly expanding Streaming audience, with a 70% conversion ratio of Free
Subscribers to Paid Subscribers as described in “Beats
Music turns 7 out of 10 free-trial users to paying ones?”, published March
20, 2014 11:22 AM PDT by Joan E. Solsman, CNET
News.
Their
secret sauce? Their music collection is curated by hand, most likely by Dr. Dre
Himself, who’s an expert at picking hits, being the mastermind behind the careers
of such Rap artiste such as:
1.
Snoop Dogg
2.
Eminem
3.
Xzibit
4.
50 Cent
5.
The Game
6.
Kendrick Lamar
All
this in a bid to return to profitability
in a world now trending towards Streaming start-ups such as Spotify,
Pandora and the Big Bosses already in the ring, Amazon Cloud Drive and
apparently Samsung Milk as described in my Geezam
blog article entitled “Don’t
cry over spilt Samsung Milk as Samsung Galaxy S5 and smartwatches disappoint”.
It
would also bring a newfound dearth of Technological know-how as it relates to
designing great looking Headphones, as their brand, despite being very pricey, Beats
by Dr. Dre Headphones are also very popular. Apple iPod line of products, once
paired with Beats by Dr. Dre, could see a new life being breathed into their
Apple iPad, Apple iPod and Apple iPhone.
This
by integrating their Design aesthetic and leveraging their great sounding audio
with their human curated Music Streaming Collection, which would be used to
replace Apple iTunes Radio completely with a joint name and an expanded Song
Library from Apple.
Apple, Beats and
Interaxion – Beyond Audio as when Music Hits, You Feel No Pain
The
Beats by Dr. Dre can be rebranded to be Apple products, albeit in the long
term, there’s little value in acquiring Electronics products, no matter how
popular they are. Trends in Electronics shift rapidly; by 2020, they re may be
no need for Headphones.
We
experience the world through our six (6) senses:
1.
Touch
2.
Hearing
3.
Smell
4.
Taste
5.
Seeing
6.
ESP (Extra Sensory Perception)
Even
more interesting is for this experience be even in you unconscious state via
Lucid Dreaming. This is now possible thanks to the recent discovery that a 40
Hz low voltage current induces Gamma Brain Waves and thus Lucid Dreaming as
described in my blog
article entitled “Frankfurt
University's Dr Ursula Voss Electric Shocks Lucid Dreaming - How Gamma Waves
lead to Conscious Dreaming Inception in Katy Perry Wide Awake Matrix”.
Such
Developments need to be studied carefully by Apple, as they threaten to make
Devices that depend on the Senses obsolete in the future. Thus Apple’s current
problems with hardware and their declining marketshare for the Apple iPhone is
a problem which ironically Samsung is also experiencing as noted in my blog article entitled
“Strategy
Analytics Stats indicate Apple and Samsung both losing smartphone Market -
Social Media, News and Wearable Computing Perfect Storm for smartphone
Extinction in the Year of the Sheep”.
Thus
Apple’s current push to add Sapphire to increase the after-sale value of Apple
iPhones will work to boost sales as stated in my blog article
entitled “Apple
and GT Advanced Crystal Technologies building Sapphire Plant in Arizona –
Arizona people working to coat Apple iPhone in Unbreakable Sapphire with
possible Jamaican Bauxite Industry Revival coming”, but is merely
prolonging the life of a product that is already dying.
Apple
purchase of Beats Electronics will
save Apple iTunes, naturally. But with the five year cycle for Apple iPhone
having ended back in 2012 and Apple seeing smartphones sales take a steady
nosedive, Wearables has to be Apple’s focus going forward.
Especially
as Google Glass, Samsung Galaxy Glass and Facebook with Oculus Rift are ramping
up for a smartglasses paired with smartwatch product in 2015 as explained in my
blog article
entitled “Google
Glass launched early as a Product - Google pre-empting Samsung Galaxy Glass and
Facebook's Oculus Rift replacing the smartphone in 2015 the Year of the Sheep”.
Apple
needs to do the same.
Apple
needs to plunge into the Wearables Market as quickly as possible with a Smartglasses
product that looks like a regular pair of glasses that connects to an Apple
iWatch to act as an AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) headset as
I’d predicted in my Geezam blog article
entitled “Apple
to debut Apple iWatch in March 2013 - iWant one and iCant Wait”. There
should be an option to synch via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi Direct to their Apple
iPhone, if the customer isn’t ready to take the Wearable plunge.
In
essence, literally putting Music in your Mind, expanding the Conscious Sensory
perception of the Musical Experience! This should be Apple’s long-term goal for
Beats Electronics, as the Technology;
Beyond Audio as when Music Hits, You Feel No Pain, Bob Marley Style.
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