With Apple officially announcing its plans to acquire Beats Electronics for $3 billion, HP’s partnership with Beats will soon expire and new products with the Beats Audio technology and branding will become a thing of the past. HP tells CNET that it will continue to sell hardware marketed with Beats Audio through the end of next year and it has the rights to make new Beats Audio products this year:
A company spokesman said in an email that HP is allowed to continue developing products with new Beats Audio technologies through 2014. But it’s allowed to continue selling devices with the Beats Audio logo and technology through 2015. HP says it’s planning an aggressive line-up of new products that includes the Beats branding through 2014. These products will include the full Beats Audio experience, the company says. Currently, Beats technology is included in about 15 to 20 percent of devices sold by HP.
Meanwhile, TechCrunch points out that Ammunition, Beats’ design firm, will no longer be involved with the design process of Beats products as Apple will take over that role. Ammunition’s founder Robert Brunner writes:
Over the next few months, the design for Beats will transition away from Ammunition. It’s tough to step down as Chief Designer for a brand I take so much pride in, but it certainly makes it easier knowing we are handing the reigns over to one of the world’s most successful design teams.
Apple said in its press release announcing the deal earlier today that it expects the Beats acquisition to receive regulatory approve and close by the end of its fiscal Q4 (i.e. September).
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Fantastic article Information
Brunner was Apple’s design director before Ive.
Not the question is what is HTC going to do about the Beats audio speakers in their HTC One (M7) and (M8). I assume the same as HP is going to be doing.
*Now
I own an aluminum HP Envy Macbook clone with a Beats. I have no idea what Beats does, but the sound coming from my speakers sounds like any other laptop. The logo is nice.
ha
It would help HP in the short term to continue to sell Beats branded laptops; however, it only adds to the mystic of the brand when it becomes exclusive to Apple after 2015. They are adding shine to the beats logo that is going to transfer to Apple, if Apple were to put a beats logo on their mac books. I don’t see how its a winning combination to promote Apple through all of 2015. It would make more sense to transition to a new audio brand (Bose, Fender, etc) by mid-2015 making the argument that they didn’t leave Beats because of Apple but because they simply found something better.
Who is HP? And who cares?
I think Apple has missed a Beat.. and really don’t see what the heck they want to spend 3bill on that crap for…