Apple’s reported $3.2 billion bid for Beats Electronics was mainly spurred by the Beats Music subscription service, says a Bloomberg report. Apple will be keeping the brand separate, and will look to help “improve the quality of design” in future Beats headphones.
Apple’s interest in Beats is said to have been piqued by the performance of the Beats Music subscription service, which does a great job of converting free users into paid users. The already close relationship between Apple executives and Beats CEO Jimmy Iovine was also cited by Bloomberg as an incentive to make the deal.
Beats Music, while reportedly having less than 300,000 paid subscribers, has been well received by both customers and critics for its design and functionality. The service allows users to listen to any song in the Beats catalog, while also offering a highly-efficient recommendation feature.
Reports say any deal for Beats will likely include a spot in Apple’s upper echelon for Iovine. The Beats CEO is well connected in the music industry, and aided Apple in the early days of the iTunes Store and iPod by getting record label executives to negotiate with Apple to secure content for the iTunes Store.
(Via AppleInsider)
