Apple Reportedly Preparing to Remove Bose Audio Products From Retail Stores
Apple is preparing to remove all Bose audio products, both demo and sellable, from its retail environment, according to a reliable source who spoke to MacRumors. The inventory change will begin early next week, with instructions for removal being sent to employees in the coming days.
The reasons behind this removal were not disclosed, but it is very likely tied to to Apple's recent acquisition of Beats Electronics. As part of this deal, Apple obtained the popular Beats headphone division as well as the company's subscription music streaming service. With Beats now featured prominently by Apple, either Bose or Apple may have decided to end their retail relationship.
Bose also has a new sponsorship deal with the National Football League that has seen the league prohibit players from wearing Beats headphones while in the presence of television cameras at practice and on game days. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick defied the ban by wearing bright pink Beats headphones at a postgame press conference last Sunday, a move that saw the league hit Kaepernick with a $10,000 fine.
Bose and Beats are also currently embroiled in a patent dispute that has seen Bose file suit against Beats, claiming infringement of five patents related to noise cancelation technology.
Apple acquired Beats Electronics earlier this year in a deal worth $3 billion. Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre reportedly have assumed senior roles within the company and are said to be working to improve Apple's influence in the music industry. This partnership may help Apple as it supposedly negotiates with music labels in order to lower the price of its Beats Music service ahead of a planned revamp rumored for February of next year.
Update 11:07 AM: Just today, Bose has agreed to a dismissal of its lawsuit against Beats, with the parties having settled their claims.
Popular Stories
Significant changes are expected to arrive with Apple's fourth-generation iPhone SE, in terms of both design and hardware, MacRumors has learned. The iPhone SE 4, known internally under the codename Ghost, is expected to receive a new design derived almost entirely from the base model iPhone 14. According to our sources, the iPhone SE 4 will use a modified version of the iPhone 14 chassis...
At WWDC 2022 last year, Apple previewed the next generation of CarPlay, promising deeper integration with vehicle functions like A/C and FM radio, support for multiple displays across the dashboard, personalization options, and more. Apple said the first vehicles with support for the next-generation CarPlay experience would be announced in late 2023, but it has still not shared any additional...
Wednesday September 27, 2023 1:57 pm PDT by
Juli CloverJust a week after releasing iOS 17, Apple has seeded the first beta of iOS 17.1 to developers. iOS 17.1 adds some features that Apple promised were coming to iOS 17 in the future, plus it refines and improves some existing features. This guide covers everything new in the first iOS 17.1 beta. Apple Music Favorites You can favorite songs, albums, playlists, and artists in the iOS 17.1...
iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max overheating concerns continue to make headlines this week, with the topic highlighted by The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. Both of the reports document anecdotal complaints from customers, and outline potential causes, but it's unclear how many devices are actually affected. Bloomberg said the overheating could be caused or compounded by the iPhone's setup...
Apple plans to release an iOS 17 update to address a bug that may contribute to the reported iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max overheating issue, according to a statement the company shared today with MacRumors and Forbes reporter David Phelan. Apple also says some recent updates to third-party apps have overloaded the system and contributed to the overheating issue. The report notes that...
Apple added a USB-C port to the iPhone 15 lineup this year, allowing it to work with USB-C cables, USB-C power banks, and more. It turns out that some USB-C battery packs are not working properly with Apple's iPhone 15, resulting in charging issues. As highlighted on Reddit and the MacRumors forums, not all existing USB-C power banks can be used with the iPhone 15 models, perhaps due to the...
Apple today released iOS 17.0.2 and iPadOS 17.0.2 updates, with the software coming five days after the releases of iOS 17.0.1 and iPadOS 17.0.1. Today's iOS 17.0.2 and iPadOS 17.0.2 updates arrive as build 21A351 and can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Note that iOS 17.0.2 was previously made available for iPhone...
Top Rated Comments
Frankly I find what Apple is doing here is anti-competitive. but hey, I don't buy accessories from Apple store anyway, so it doesn't bother me.
Buy
Other
Sound
Equipment
Overpriced junk shouldn't be sold in Apple Stores regardless of what you think of Beats.
Beats are ok...but very overpriced.
You can do much much better for your dollar.
Honestly, it probably doesn't really matter to me much in the long run, since I would probably never buy either brand in an Apple store.
I think Bose fired the first shot, with the NFL debacle. It's unfortunate because Bose makes some decent stuff. Certainly not the best, but definitely better than the beats crap.
You aren't upset Apple doesn't offer Samsung phones, are you? :p