Since last week it has been reported multiple times that Apple is in final stages of talks to acquire Beats, a company that’s known for its high-end audio products and an on-demand music streaming service. It has also been rumored that the company’s top brass, Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, might get jobs at Apple after the acquisition. A new report published today claims that Apple might introduce both new hires at Worldwide Developers Conference 2014.
WWDC 2014 is scheduled for the first week of June. Apple traditionally makes software related announcements during the keynote, though it would probably be the best venue to introduce them because Beats Music was reportedly the main reason why Apple became interested in the company.
Apple has long been rumored to be working on an on-demand music streaming service of its own. By acquiring Beats not only does it get a full fledged service with paying subscribers, it is able to retain all subscribers across rival platforms which it doesn’t support with iTunes.
Billboard reports that Jimmy Iovine might be given a role where he oversees all of Apple’s music strategy and even handle its relationships with record labels and publishers. As a veteran of the music industry Iovine will no doubt be a good fit for this position. It wouldn’t be Dr. Dre’s first appearance on the WWDC stage. Some ten years back he made an appearance by video link to congratulate Steve Jobs on the launch of the iTunes store and the iPod.
Apple is expected to confirm its acquisition of Beats later this week. The company will reportedly pay $3.2 billion.
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