“Audio-equipment maker Monster LLC is discovering that all is fair in love and law,” Daisuke Wakabayashi reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“Monster says Apple Inc. revoked its authority to make licensed accessories for Apple devices after Monster and its chief executive sued Beats Electronics LLC in January,” Wakabayashi reports. “Monster said the move was retribution for the lawsuit against Beats, which Apple acquired last year for $3.2 billion.”
“Monster’s general counsel David Tognotti said Noreen Krall, Apple’s chief litigation counsel, told him that their agreement was being terminated, effective May 5, because the relationship between the two companies is no longer ‘mutually beneficial’ in the wake of Monster’s lawsuit. 
According to Mr. Tognotti, Ms. Krall said the suit would “destroy the working relationship” between Apple and Monster,” Wakabayashi reports. “Monster can continue to sell the Apple-licensed accessories through September, but had to stop manufacturing new ones.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Remember the following if you’re ever prompted by some sales drone to overpay for the nothing extra that Monster cables promise to deliver:
“In true Silicon Valley fashion, [Monster CEO Noel Lee] started out in his family’s basement: taste-testing different varieties of copper wire until he found a type that he thought enhanced audio quality. Then, also in Silicon Valley fashion, he marketed the shit out of it and jacked up its price: Monster Cable. Before it was ever mentioned in the same gasp as Dre, Monster was trying to get music lovers to buy into a superior sound that existed mostly in imaginations and marketing brochures,” Sam Biddle reported for Gizmodo back in September 2013. “‘We came up with a reinvention of what a speaker cable could be,’ Noel Lee boasts. His son, Kevin, describes it differently: ‘a cure for no disease.'”
Much more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Brawndo Drinker” and “silverhawk1” for the heads up.]
SEE ALSO:
Monster lawsuit accuses Apple’s Dr. Dre And Jimmy Iovine of ‘fraud’ and ‘betrayal’ – January 7, 2015
Monster sues Apple’s Beats Electronics, founders Dr. Dre, Jimmy Iovine claiming fraud – January 7, 2015
Monster CEO sounds a little bitter over Apple’s planned $3.2 billion Beats acquisition – May 14, 2014
Apple sues headphone entrepreneur for claiming to be Beats co-founder – September 30, 2014
18/16/14/12 gauge power cords from Home depot. Copper enough for all of us.. Sounds great…
14 gauge cable will safely handle 15 amps. With 8 ohm speakers, it will handle 1,800 watts ( I x I x R =W). How many people have amplifiers that can handle that much power?
I have a 1500 watt amplifier.
Your 1800 watt/14 gauge/8 ohm speaker cable will dissipate 108 watts in the cable for a 50 foot length. That does not qualify as “handled.”
http://www.bcae1.com/images/swfs/speakerwireselectorassistant.swf
First, that is a long speaker cable. And second, not many people have 1500W amps. You should probably invest in 12AWG or even larger wire.
The point is that Monster costs more for no added value. I doubt if high-end electronic analysis equipment could detect the impact of fancy “oxygen-free” copper.
First, many speaker cables are that long. Second, I didn’t stipulate the 1800 watts; Norm did. Third, not all Monster cables are expensive. You are wrong on every count.
Don’t forget resistance losses due to skin effect.
Monster seems to be the poster boy for overpriced cables, but they are very well made cables. You can spend less on cables but you will get less. Yes if you are so poor you have to use lamp cord- do it, but you will fiddle around with soldering your own ends, no color coding, etc. You can spend a monstrous amount more and get very little more than what Monster gives you.
I heard roadies used power cord at concert venues. Because they were clean and carried the amps they needed. IE the audio quality is technically in the gauge and strands. Both which exist in comparatively lower cost power cords. You can use monster, gas permeated , oxygen free copper, but that’s just what you are buying, a lot of mumbo jumbo.
I love it when people sue for their own stupidity – Monster signed a crappy deal with Beats and got left with nothing when Apple bought them – Monster used to manufacture Beats and Beats took the rights away along with the technology so Monster had nothing left but cables. Ha Ha be careful what you sign.
As Apple learned in the 80s with Microsoft and Windows.
I was in a store when a salesmen was trying to sell a customer monster cable. The customer turned to me and asked, What do you think, I said go home put your favorite music on and turn the sound all the way up. If its too loud turn it down, If you turn it more than halfway you don’t need monster cable. Not loud enough, get a bigger amplifier.
Assuming it’s electrically sufficient, and shielded and/or balanced where necessary, any wire will do the job very nicely. More money has been wasted on stereo and music equipment wiring thanks to Monster… They invented the whole voodoo wire industry.
Monster should be happy they’ve made as much money as they have.
Monster cables are a scam.
The first time I read through their literature then looked at the price, I laughed. I went elsewhere and bought cables at literally 1/10th the price instead, and they’re still working great. Monster, at least with regards to cables, is all about ripping the suckers blind, or such is my personal opinion.
He knows the end is near. He realizes at last that imaginary metals and imaginary cables exist only in the imagination of the imaginer. And ultimately, who gives a fuck anyway.
Love the Zappa reference, awesome!
If you’d like to see Dweezil do a balls-on rendition of the jam:
Brought a tear.
What works better, copper or wi-fi for speakers? That might be Mr Monster’s downfall.
Now I’m left wondering if the Apple canceled Beats speakers from last fall met their end because of a ‘not invented here’ engineering factor. IOW: Lawsuit avoidance. But I bet we’ll never know.
The same people that bought Y2k compliant batteries, will buy Monster Cables. 🖖😀⌚️
I was smarter than that, I withdrew my $25 out of savings, just in case.
The purchase of Beats just continues to circle the bowl…
What real value did pissing away $3 Billion +/- do for Apple shareholders or customers? It obviously made Beats investors/owners wealthy, but beyond that Apple has:
1-A shitty subscription music service little different from what is available from any number of other vendors.
2-A brand of shitty – and damned fugly- headphones and bluetooth speakers that are the emperor’s new clothes for hipsters and wannabes. That 15 minute clock has been running for a very fickle market.
3-The liability for Beats- including this lawsuit and the recall of the Poison Pills. Sure some more will be coming.
4-The addition of Jimmy Bovine, Crapper/Serial female Abuser Andre Romelle Young dba “Dr Dre” and Trent Reznor. This has resulted in the development of a me too music subscription service and some kind of Internet Radio service full of Brits- like a copy of Virgin Radio in London back in the day.
I’m not seeing the value and I took both Macro and Microeconomics and accounting among other things in college. Could it be that thinking this was a good use of $3 Billion requires a special math like Karl Rove?
Monster makes great cables and they aren’t all expensive.
Furthermore, every year around the Consumer Electronics Show, they have a big sale. I have seen 40% off. You can’t beat that value.
I use Monster cables for musical instruments. They have a lifetime warranty. If one goes bad, you simply take it to a store (e.g. Guitar Center) for a free, immediate replacement. You can’t beat that. They are like the Craftsman tools of music cables.
My policy is that 40% off much too much is still too much. Monster products used to cost at least several times as much as the more practical alternatives. If Monster products are more reasonably priced now, it is likely because of increased competition along with consumers finally wising up to Monster’s monster cable scam.
If Monster Cables meet the requirements Apple has set forth for the MFi “Made for” program, then Monster cables should be allowed to have the “Made for” certification.
The program was designed to help consumers choose cables that meet Apple’s quality standards, not business relationship standards.
This is a disgusting move on Apple’s part and it really devalues the “Made for” program.
Exactly. Perhaps Ericsson should pull Apple’s authority (which they actually don’t have) to use Ericsson’s phone patents without paying?
Apple is behaving like a spoiled brat without a legitimate complaint. Does this have something to do with Tim Cook?
A quick check on Amazon for cables by Monster.. $2-$4 a foot. This is overpriced for high quality and good for many years cables? Maybe the naysayers are the kind that twist drycleaner hangers into speaker wire to save a buck?
Maybe you folks should look a little into Beats’ business practices, particularly how they screwed over ever one of their partners, during their rise.
Commendable business acumen, but ultimately Beats was also selling imaginary high-end headphones, heavily marketed, that didn’t provide any of what was promised.