Apple's Beats brand in April unveiled the Powerbeats Pro, a redesigned wire-free version of its popular fitness-oriented Powerbeats earbuds.
Jobs Biographer Walter Isaacson Suggests Key TV Content Role for Beats' Jimmy Iovine
Apple is rumored to be purchasing Beats Electronics, with an announcement of the acquisition coming at any moment. The deal is said to include the company's headphone business, its Beats Music subscription service, and two key executives -- Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, aka Andre Young.
Several reports have suggested that Apple's major motivation behind the purchase might be the acquihire of Jimmy Iovine, who has strong ties to the music industry thanks to his role as chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M and founder of Interscope Records.
Walter Isaacson, the man behind the famous Steve Jobs biography, is also speculating that Iovine is one of the main reasons Apple has decided to purchase Beats. In a discussion with Billboard, Isaacson suggested Cook is aiming to have Iovine head up the company's content business, securing music and TV deals that will help Apple launch its much-rumored television product.
Isaacson thinks the Apple-Beats deal is not about headphones or streaming music but rather is about video. He speculates that Cook wants Iovine to run Apple's content business and help Apple launch the TV product that analysts have been gossiping about for years. The product has been held up because Apple can't get all the content owners on board.Iovine has a long history of working with Apple to help the company sign key deals. In 2002, he helped Steve Jobs secure deals with music labels for the iTunes Store and in 2004, he helped persuade U2 to sign a deal with Apple to create the popular U2 special edition iPod.
Looking back at notes he took when writing the Jobs biography, Isaacson noted that Iovine had wanted Apple to acquire Universal Music Group back in 2003, and during that year, there were rumors suggesting Apple was in talks to buy the record company. At the time, Iovine was leading Interscope Geffen A&M, a division of Universal.
For years now, Apple has been working on signing deals with major content providers with the aim of revolutionizing the television industry, but content providers have been reluctant to commit to an agreement that could interrupt traditional revenue streams. Iovine's many connections in the music industry and his history of helping Apple win key deals could be instrumental in a wider content role with the company.
Maybe Iovine has the charisma and connections to round up the networks the way he did the music labels in 2002, although "it's a lot more complicated" this time around, says Isaacson. His track record of success in marrying content and tech gives that theory some weight.Recent rumors have suggested that both Iovine and Dr. Dre could make their first appearances as Apple executives during the company's Worldwide Developers Conference, set to kick off on June 2.
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66 months ago
For someone with intimate access to Steve Jobs, it never ceases to amaze me how little insight Isaacson has into Apple.
66 months ago
interesting
. but why not just purchase netflix
..
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Neither does reading a blog or being a fan of apple. Should give the guy who spent a large amount of time talking with Steve Jobs a little credit.
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Someone's gotta tell Isaacson that writing a biography on Jobs doesn't automatically make one an expert on all things Apple.
Please, Walter, just stop.
Neither does reading a blog or being a fan of apple. Should give the guy who spent a large amount of time talking with Steve Jobs a little credit.
66 months ago
Someone's gotta tell Isaacson that writing a biography on Jobs doesn't automatically make one an expert on all things Apple.
Please, Walter, just stop.
Please, Walter, just stop.
66 months ago
All the content on TV sucks anyways... I don't understand for the life of me why they don't just do a version of YouTube that doesn't totally suck, integrate it into their content creation software, and let people put out the awesome content themselves.
Major news networks are all losing ratings, and it's because they produce garbage. The stuff on YouTube is way more intelligent, and the producers aren't worried about advertising revenue, so you're not plagued with commercials every 5 dang minutes, and you can actually engage in a deep and intelligent conversation with people, unlike on the major networks, where your thoughts need to be reduced to 5 second spats, and any disagreement goes largely unsettled.
I haven't watched TV in months. I don't miss it one bit. And I'm pretty tired of the excuses for why they can't launch this TV yet... C'mon Apple...
Major news networks are all losing ratings, and it's because they produce garbage. The stuff on YouTube is way more intelligent, and the producers aren't worried about advertising revenue, so you're not plagued with commercials every 5 dang minutes, and you can actually engage in a deep and intelligent conversation with people, unlike on the major networks, where your thoughts need to be reduced to 5 second spats, and any disagreement goes largely unsettled.
I haven't watched TV in months. I don't miss it one bit. And I'm pretty tired of the excuses for why they can't launch this TV yet... C'mon Apple...
66 months ago
All the content on TV sucks anyways... I don't understand for the life of me why they don't just do a version of YouTube that doesn't totally suck, integrate it into their content creation software, and let people put out the awesome content themselves.
Major news networks are all losing ratings, and it's because they produce garbage. The stuff on YouTube is way more intelligent, and the producers aren't worried about advertising revenue, so you're not plagued with commercials every 5 dang minutes, and you can actually engage in a deep and intelligent conversation with people, unlike on the major networks, where your thoughts need to be reduced to 5 second spats, and any disagreement goes largely unsettled.
I haven't watched TV in months. I don't miss it one bit. And I'm pretty tired of the excuses for why they can't launch this TV yet... C'mon Apple...
You opened up with that statement and it became obvious that you have no clue what you're talking about.
66 months ago
i kinda of get what Iovine brings to the party but i don't get this Dr. guys role for a Apple exec position.
66 months ago
Walter Isaacson has no more insight into the Beats acquisition than anyone here. Maybe even less.
66 months ago
I still don't understand all the hand-wringing over this. I guess it's because so many people feel like Beats headphones don't sound that great and are expensive.
But, both the headphones and the service are profitable. Which means that they will pay for themselves over a period of time. Even if the number of subscribers at the moment is low, they are making money on each one, and when it becomes an Apple property then it is likely that many more people will subscribe, adding more profit with each subscription.
So, headphones that sell for a profit. A music subscription service with sweet transferable agreements that is profitable. Then as a bonus, an incredibly well-connected and influential media mogul that can help clear roadblocks that have hampered Apple for years. It doesn't sound like a bad deal to me. But then again, I'm not getting all emotional about it like some people.
But, both the headphones and the service are profitable. Which means that they will pay for themselves over a period of time. Even if the number of subscribers at the moment is low, they are making money on each one, and when it becomes an Apple property then it is likely that many more people will subscribe, adding more profit with each subscription.
So, headphones that sell for a profit. A music subscription service with sweet transferable agreements that is profitable. Then as a bonus, an incredibly well-connected and influential media mogul that can help clear roadblocks that have hampered Apple for years. It doesn't sound like a bad deal to me. But then again, I'm not getting all emotional about it like some people.
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