So why not provide context rather than just dismissing it outright?
Its official: Apple just bought Beats for $3 Billion
- Thread starter Maninthemirror
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So why not provide context rather than just dismissing it outright?
I don't have any beats products except for a pill I bought as a gift which doesn't count, BUUUT-- have you guys been outside lately? Beats headphones are popular. Go talk to a guy in Best Buy loitering around 20" phones or whatever, ask him if he likes Jawbone speakers or Beats speakers and watch him laugh at the question. As an analogy for gaffers, go to a game store and ask the local clerk if he thinks the greatest game of all time is Zelda 64 or Madden 14, see similar reactions.
It's not about technology or hardware, it's designer stuff. You can't make name brand recognition in an R&D lab. Apple bought something that's intangible. Intangibles are hard to come by these days.
It's not about technology or hardware, it's designer stuff. You can't make name brand recognition in an R&D lab. Apple bought something that's intangible. Intangibles are hard to come by these days.
What? I didn't write it, it was in the article.
You can't glean much info from the average BOM across the entire line and the price of the highest retail price. Given that provided context, it is justifiable to dismiss it. If I say the average BOM for all Apple products produced is under $200 and they sell a Mac for $1000+, I don't think you're actually able to do much actual deductive reasoning from that info.
thefunkyman
Banned
I was just wondering how Monster keeps getting these suckers. What's wrong with that?
RobotChant
Member
Will.I.Am was also in on Beats from the beginning. Where's his executive position?
50cent must be seething though. The last few months he has been shading Beats and Dre, and still trying to make SMS Audio happen.
50cent must be seething though. The last few months he has been shading Beats and Dre, and still trying to make SMS Audio happen.
Oh. Nevermind.
JJDinomite
Banned
Will.i.am is gonna get payed some serious (well deserved) cash
I see. I'm not an audiophile so I don't really know.
I thought Bose had very nice quality.
My Sennheiser wireless headphones (which my dad bought) were to be honest not that great. There was a faint hissing sound while using them. I tried to tune them best I could but it wasn't perfect.
I think people who buy beats don't really care about audio. (or think it sounds good enough)
Its like for them tape < CD and thats about it. They are happy to spend the $300 on the fashion statement.
ShinobiFist
Banned
Don't listen to what people have to say about Beats or any other brand. When it comes to speakers or cans. If it sounds good to you, that's all that matters. You're not buying headphones, you're buy a fashion item when it comes to beats.
sankt-Antonio
Banned
Dont know if I could have the will power to go on a 9-5 job as a billionaire who , for the last 30 years , never had to care for much of a schedule.
DemurOnion
Banned
Bose is not bad per se. Just more or less your average decent speaker system. Any kind of wireless audio is going to be shaky at best imho. Headphones definitely need amps on the high-end, even with lower ohms requirements.
I'd say Bose is pretty high prices for what you get but Beats is definitely on a whole nother level when it comes to ripping people off.
As for the HD800, they are fundamentally the best in class design, with arguments about SQ with other top end brands like Audeze. They are comfy, monstrous with the right amp, and are worth every penny of their 1000 dollar price if you find them for that. You simply cannot get concert type sound out of headphones unless you go with the high-end versions of the Sennheiser or Beyer etc. I would rather wait for the successor. At any rate 1000 bucks for quality headphones is not that big of a deal. They spend years in R&D to make those.
Beats are made on the dime, cheaply as possibly, with inflated bass. They said they cost 15 bucks to make. I wouldn't doubt it. I guarantee there are at least 100 dollars of material in the Senns and impossible to know how much engineering and science behind them not to mention individual testing on pairs.
Angelus Errare
Banned
Bose are garbage as fuck. $399 for some average noise cancelling with cans that sound like complete ass? Nah breh.
DemurOnion
Banned
Neither do I use Bose or have ever used Bose. I'm not gonna start any more wars with people. Beats and Bose can have each other for all I care.
now apple has a token black manager too.... Two birds with one stone
Bose fans are the worst. Terrible, terrible audio.
beats best friend..
Ha! No, Bose is better than Beats. But Bose is still shit. Get me some B&Ws any day of the week.
victreeb3l
Member
I see them a lot when I was in Hong Kong, and they sell a lot of knockoff Beats stuff everywhere in China, but I haven't been reading blogs or anything.
A lot of the tech focused stuff this week has been on the US-China cyber hacking allegations, and China now telling companies to not use Windows or IBM servers. And the rumored temporary ban of WeChat in some parts of Xinjiang. Oh, and Google/Gmail access has been especially bad this week, probably related to the hacking allegations. Had to pause a Skype call for like 5 minutes while I struggled to get into Gmail to open an email they just sent me (I had to give up and get the file via a different method).
sankt-Antonio
Banned
Hardware Engineering Vice President looks boss as fuck.
I'd try it but it's not currently available in my region. But I've heard good things about it.
victreeb3l
Member
Another funny one
I wouldn't call the headphones terrible, they are just over priced, and over-bassed. Who knows, maybe Apple will make them better. They do sell really well, so I can see why Apple would buy the brand.
A day doesn't go by where I don't see a kid walking around with beats headphones on. It's actually kind of weird to see people wear them like a fashion.
I don't know about headphones, but they make good car audio. Best factory sound system I've heard in a car at that price level (Jetta).
Beats brand is popular in China. But people buying actual beats? Nah. When you can get knock offs for 10 euro and they actually provide decent audio quality, don't break and look exactly like the real thing, why would you bother forking out hundreds of euro. That's one of the downsides to having a "designer brand". If you can ape the design (which is super easy) the counterfeiting is easy. And as I've said the knock offs actually work very well, they have proper sound cancellation and my last pair lasted more than 2 years.
Angelus Errare
Banned
Never used Bose before, but telling people they're decent for the money and they're not bad "per se". Faux-audiophiles are the worst.
Bose was Beats before Beats came on the scene.
Chairmanchuck
Member
Not that many people here wearing beats. They were either the earbuds from Apple or some of the 50cent "Beats" you can buy everywhere and change them every months.
Most people here in China also wear in-ears. It seems on-ears or over-ears arent that popular here.
In HK it was different, but I thought everyone wears different ones there.
I saw quite a few people wearing Beats, but generally it seems the people here rather prefer In-ears. I see more Beats in one day in Germany, than I have ever seen in China.
Brand recognition? I didn't have a clue what Beats was before I clicked this thread.
SuicideUZI
Member
More like lucky. From my understanding Steven Lamar came up with the idea originally and brought it to Jimmy Iovine and asked if Dr. Dre would be the celebrity sponsor. Dre didn't have anything to do with the creation of the product other than agreeing to put his name on it. I'm not sure what happened from that point but somehow Dre and Iovine ended up being the 2 making all the money from the product.
At any rate from a pure business standpoint this seems like a good investment simply for the fact that Beats brings in over a billion per year. Assuming that trend continues Apple would make a return on their investment eventually without having to even do anything.
However since Apple is a company all about making great products they obviously have a bigger picture in mind. I just don't know if buying beats for $3 billion was the smartest decision in order to create the products they have in mind. Seems like they could do just as well or better in-house for a lot less, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt.
I haven't used Beats Music but I have read some comments that its a pretty good service, and since Apple doesn't have a service like that currently in a way they are killing 2 birds with 1 stone by adding that to their arsenal as well as taking away some of the competition. I am just wondering if this service will all be integrated under iTunes and maybe a part of paying for iTunes Match or if it will just remain a completely separate service under the Beats name for the foreseeable future
Everdred
Member
I'm using the 7 day free trial right now and it's the best I've used out of Xbox Music, Spotify, and Google Play. They even have a good Windows Phone app.
D
Deleted member 22576
Unconfirmed Member
I can't wait for these amazing developments.
This is such a strange acquisition for Apple. If anything it devalues their image to me. I get that Beats are popular and all, but any techies in the know know that they make shit products with shit sound. Anyway, with these matters it's all about the business side so as long as it's profitable for them I guess.
Apple doesn't exactly make the best audio equipment either, even if Beats is mediocre that's still progress.
They don't exactly make audio equipment at all. It's never been their focus apart from the off-beat iPod Hi-Fi several years back. Cheapo earphones don't really count. Everyone does those.
The Steve Jobs way probably would have been to copy Beats instead of buy it though.
The movie is incredibly inaccurate. Jobs was a strict businessman more than anything. The happy visionary businessman thing isn't true.There was a few scenes in the movie they filmed at the community college I was going to. My summers school glass was scheduled to be in there the whole semester. It was this big lecture hall that was built in the 70s. Really comfortable chairs too and due to the size of it you can pretty much sleep in there without the teacher noticing.
They were only supposed to film there two days. So for those two days we relocated to another room that was small with really uncomfortable chairs. It ended up being the whole summer session they filmed there. So I am bias against this movie.
Anyways, if you want some real entertainment watch iSteve on FunnyOrDie.com, it is hilarious.
I guess what I'm saying is there is no fear of the sound output quality on their devices actually getting worse.
Besides, people are overly critical at anything Apple does, be it manufacturing in China, building data centers, etc, and they in general address those issues, if the Beats acquisition gets people to be more critical of Apple's current speaker quality, this can only be good IMO.
the thought of it is laughable... You gotta really hate dre or beats to care... Or really love apple lol i think apple will do a better job of promoting both brands
better than htc
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