The 9th of May marks the day that talks became as official as we can get between Apple and Dre’s Beats headphones coming together in a deal that was worth an estimated 3.2 billion dollars. That is a huge sum of money and it makes Dr. Dre the first rapper billionaire in history.
The reason for the sale and what Apple intended to do with the company were not well-known. However today I have come across some valuable information that gives us a better insight as to what is happening here.
As it turns out, Apple released a streaming service called iTunes radio along with iOS 7 around this time last year, but it was not as successful as CEO Tim Cook hoped. Apparently this is well beyond iTunes capabilities and looking purely at streaming music now. According to The Wall Street Journal, Beats is much more than just headphones that go over the ears and the top of the scalp, they already have a service and it is a real beauty. So there’s that.
Why would Dre give it all up so easily then? Well, word is that he did not. Now we are hearing that Dre is pushing to have a senior position inside of the famous Cupertino company. He along with Jimmy Iovine will become Apple executives and work for the iconic label in Apple now.
One has to think that after Apple offers the lump sum of money, Dr. Dre said no. That may have followed with something like “what am I going to do with myself If I sell you my company”?. And he has not a point. While acquiring one of the largest amounts of money he could only dream of at the end of it he does not have anything left. He then had the balls to ask for a job inside Apple headquarters and the fruit company wanted the music streaming service to work so bad that they said yes. For Apple, it is not a bad deal either. Dre is without a doubt a mogul in music. Hundreds of thousands of fans right around the world idolize him. He will give great marketing as all the kids want the tech that the famous rapper is a part of and it will result in more sales.
A search of Beats music streaming service will now give you the first result on the page of iTunes Radio by Google ads. That is interesting. Shuffling down further past the fresh news section and you will come to the home page of Beats Music. A slight scroll will have you glancing at your iPhone and phrases like “just hit play.” Now you can see how to set up this whole shebang already. First impressions have this as a fantastic move by Apple and it is exciting to see what will happen in the next few months. Will they launch something extra with the iPhone 6? Or will they at least give some demonstration with new connectivity at the launch of the new iOS 8? All of this will unveils over the North American summer holiday period. It will be a mammoth year for Apple which also will be launching the new iWatch. It will be interesting to see if any music capabilities come along with the smartwatch.
It is clear that Dre is not just in it for the money and he does have a passion for technology-based products. Another rapper that has a similar story is Ice Cube. From Hollywood to New York; from rapping to shooting movies, the USA has a long list of celebrities that have an inner geek that many would not know about.