Beats Electronics

318 'Beats' stories January 2014 - May 2014

Beats Electronics was created in 2006 by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine. They focused on premium speakers and headphones. In 2011, it was estimated they had over 60% of the $100+ speaker market. On August 1, 2014, Apple acquired the company for $3 billion in cash and stock. It was the largest acquisition in Apple’s history.

After being acquired by Apple, Beats Music (a Spotify competitor) was shut down and many of its features found their way into Apple Music. Apple continues to release products under the brand today.

Current Products:

Opinion: Beats Music is actually so good that I’m worried about Apple ruining it (à la LaLa)

Zac Hall May 9 2014 - 9:42 am PT

23 Comments

My first reaction to yesterday’s news that Apple is nearing the close of a $3.2 billion deal to purchase Beats Electronics was one of worry, but not for the reasons that I saw in much of the commentary from others. I’m less concerned with what Apple could have planned for the headphones business or that the price tag is so high; after all, it’s exciting to think that Apple could make a major acquisition (its largest yet) after somewhat of a quiet period. What worries me is what Apple has planned for the not-so-popular-yet subscription streaming service Beats Music…

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Opinion: What is Apple’s thinking in spending $3.2B on buying Beats?

Ben Lovejoy May 9 2014 - 6:51 am PT

82 Comments

Apple’s apparent purchase of Beats took everyone by surprise. I must confess that my immediate reaction was to be slightly appalled. As someone whose audio tastes run more to B&O and B+W, I’ve always viewed Beats headphones as over-bassed, over-priced fashion items. But then my tastes in music admittedly differ somewhat from those of the typical Beats customer.

Even so, it’s still a little baffling at first glance. Tim Cook himself said a year ago that Apple asks two questions when considering an acquisition:

Would it help us make a great product, and would the culture fit at Apple?

My immediate answer to both would be “no,” so why would Apple spend $3.2B on a headphone manufacturer with a small sideline streaming music service … ?
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Beats Music 2.0 update delivers iPad version for subscription music service

Zac Hall May 1 2014 - 11:25 am PT

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Well, there it is. Beats Music updated to version 2.0 today bringing native support for the streaming music subscription service for iPad users. Beats Music teased the iPad version just yesterday in a teaser image shared over Twitter. Beats Music also recently added support for in-app subscription purchasing making it easier for users to use the full version of the service. The update also includes the ability to find other Beats Music users you may already know through Twitter.
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Beats Music teases upcoming iPad version of streaming service

Zac Hall Apr 30 2014 - 1:04 pm PT

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After being announced last fall and debuting an iPhone app at launch in January, streaming music service Beats is finally ready to ship an iPad-optimized version of its software… almost. Beats Music tweeted the photo above earlier today with the caption “THIS JUST IN: Your favorite Music App is feeling ready to grow in size…literally… “. The news follows recent moves to increase accessibility to becoming a paid subscriber to the service as it recently added in-app subscription purchasing capability (something which gives Apple a 30% cut of the rate).

Beats Music updated with subscriptions via in-app purchase, Facebook friend search, and a lot more

Mike Beasley Apr 18 2014 - 5:48 pm PT

2 Comments

Beats Music for iOS was updated today to version 1.0.7, but don’t let the minor version number bump fool you: this update has a lot of new stuff, including an entirely new subscription model, packed in.

The biggest news in this update is the option to purchase a subscription directly from the iTunes Store through an in-app purchase. Previously users had to add the Beats Music service to their carrier phone bill in order to enjoy the full feature set, such as on-demand streaming music and downloads.

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Beats Music streaming service launches on iPhone for $9.99 a month

Benjamin Mayo Jan 21 2014 - 2:37 am PT

4 Comments

Beats Music is now available for iPhone on the App Store, after being originally announced back in October. The app is a very stylised adaption of a typical music streaming service app, with Beats heavily pushing the idea of customisation and curation to distance it from its many competitors.

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