“When Apple announced it was acquiring Beats in 2014, lots of critics scoffed… Why was the most valuable, competent and profitable tech company on earth prepared to spend $3 billion—by far the most it had ever paid in an acquisition—to get Beats?” Daniel Eran Dilger writes for AppleInsider.
“Apple only acquired Beats three years ago. It’s already directly generated two solid new hits: Apple Music and AirPods, as well as a portfolio of revamped Beats products and the retooled audio performance across all of Apple’s Mac and iOS devices,” Dilger writes. “The significant lead in audio performance that HP, HTC and Amazon were once touting at the beginning of this decade has evaporated away.”
“That major shift in audio savvy not only demonstrates Apple’s incredible competence in selecting, engaging and implementing strategic acquisitions, but also suggests that the company has the ability to do similar things in the future to surpass rivals who have a temporary edge in specific technologies,” Dilger writes. “Apple has been consistently catching up and surpassing rivals, largely driven by well-considered strategic acquisitions.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple overpaid for Beats, but if that’s what it took to get Iovine & Dre on board and ramp up Apple Music, not to mention the ancillary revenue from Beats’ middling-to-worse / now-improving in sound quality headphone business, what does Apple care? $3 billion is pocket change to the Cupertino colossus.
