Early this year, Apple acquired Beats for $3 billion. This deal may or may not have made Dr. Dre the first billionaire in the hip-hop world. But many are wondering what now? What is the fate of this Apple and Beats relationship?
Some are reporting Apple is planning to put Beats on the shelf altogether. That’s not true. I’m not sure how that rumor came about, but even those reporting it say that Apple is not planning on shutting Beats down. In fact,? Apple CEO Tim Cook already boasts and brags about the Beats subscription program that’s been put together. Through that plan, one can get all-you-can- handle music for $10 a month. What’s more likely to happen is the Beats/Apple alliance will modify in the months to come. It could even involve changing the Beats Music Brand. What changes might be made? I guess we’ll all have to wait and see.
But I’m still puzzled about how all this ‘end of Beats’ talk came from. During the September 9 press conference, Beats wasn’t mentioned. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus didn’t come with any Beats apps. It doesn’t look like it will be part of the iWatch either. In fact, Beats hasn’t made much noise at all since this acquisition. But still, Apple spent 3 billion dollars on Beats. Wouldn’t it be silly to just not do anything with it? That’s like buying a $50,000 car and never driving it, or a $2 million dollar home and never living in it, or a $5 million dollar luxury private jet and still insist on flying commercial. Apple didn’t get to be one of the top companies in the world by making silly decisions. So for those of us in the blogging or online journalism game, it’s so important for us to get our facts straight before releasing a report. But what will become of Beats in the months to come?