Apple Wants Beats To Make Themselves More Culturally Relevant [Rumor]

Why does Apple want Beats? We doubt it will be about the headphones, since Apple isn’t the type to buy brands, and buying Beats for Beats Music does sound a bit silly, since it would effectively overlap and cannibalize iTunes Radio. It has been speculated that Apple’s interest in Beats could be about video for Apple TV, where they would leverage Jimmy Iovine’s connections to help land deals for the company.

This idea seems to be in line with a recent report from TechCrunch, which suggests that the Beats acquisition is more of an acquihire, where they are more interested in bringing Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine on board, and applying their knowledge of fashion and culture to future Apple products. According to their source, “They want Jimmy and they want Dre. He’s got fashion and culture completely locked up.”

This also seems to be in line with Apple’s recent hirings, which aren’t necessarily hires from tech-related backgrounds. For example Apple had hired the former CEO of Burberry, Angela Ahrendts; former CEO of Yves St. Laurent, Paul Deneve; and former Leica engineer, Ari Partinen, all of whom come from companies where design and marketing are extremely important.

Now it seems that the acquisition isn’t a done deal just yet. Their source has stated that there were times when the deal nearly fell through, but has stated that he/she is 70% sure that it will be happening, and that it will be announced soon. It was previously rumored that it would be announced this week, but given that we’re almost at the end of the week, it looks like it might not happen.

In any case Apple has also been rumored to announce it at WWDC 2014, which is taking place in June, so perhaps more will be revealed then, so check back with us during WWDC to find out more! In the meantime what do you guys make of this reasoning? Does it make sense?

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Audio, Rumors
Tags: beats