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The Beats deal comes down to two things:

1) The "premium mobile audio" market is going to be the next huge market where Apple and Samsung face-off. It's no coincidence that Samsung announced their new line of premium headphones just a week before the Apple-Beats rumors began: http://www.samsung.com/uk/news/local/samsung-launches-level-...

2)Despite the tech communities denial, Apple and Beats are very much in sync. Beats is first and foremost a fashionable hardware company for the mass markets, which APPLE IS TOO. People in the tech community, and Hacker News more specifically, are having a hard time grasping this deal because they still see Apple's roots as a niche tech company of superior quality, whereas they've long moved to a mass market company. For a long time Apple was seen in a similar light as Beats; they charged a premium for commoditized product (personal computers with operating systems) and were heavily driven by marketing. Wether Hacker News wants to accept it or not, they're both predominantly mass market fashionable hardware companies that charge a premium for their ostensibly superior products. Beats has created a justifiably large brand, whether techies want to accept that fact or not. As the dominant hardware company, Apple is just acquiring a fast up and coming trendy hardware and accessories company, just as happens in every other industry. This deal makes sense.




I agree but I think there’s a third reason. This Jimmy Iovine guy is no joke, he’s like the Johnny Ive of music and Hollywood, and the ability to work out deals with media companies is priceless.

http://www.dailydot.com/technology/apple-beats-jimmy-iovine-...




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