“My first reaction to [the] news that Apple is nearing the close of a $3.2 billion deal to purchase Beats Electronics was one of worry, but not for the reasons that I saw in much of the commentary from others,” Zac Hall writes for 9to5Mac. “I’m less concerned with what Apple could have planned for the headphones business or that the price tag is so high; after all, it’s exciting to think that Apple could make a major acquisition (its largest yet) after somewhat of a quiet period. What worries me is what Apple has planned for the not-so-popular-yet subscription streaming service Beats Music.”
“While I don’t believe this deal is entirely about the tiny subscription music service that is Beats Music, that’s where my concern largely exists,” Hall writes. “I’ve been using Beats Music over the last month and I’ve been really impressed. I’ve even become somewhat of a Beats Music advocate among my circle of friends and family. Beats Music’s ability to recommend bands, albums, and playlists so aggressively and accurately has continued to surprise me more than any other service to date.”
“The secret sauce is said to be in the editorial team behind the service,” Hall writes. “I can’t help but worry that this reported deal might mean the end of something that has really excited me: a music service that I actually feel good about paying for… My concern is largely with what will happen the Beats Music in the near future. If the deal is signed, congratulations to the team that built the service, but Apple: please don’t ruin Beats Music.”
Read more in the full article here.
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Based on what I’ve read Beats is worthless, fantastic, useless to Apple, and a strategic coup. Tim Cook is an idiot and a genius.
I have a headache.
Fire Tim Cook!
Then give him a raise!
No wait, the other way around!
——RM
Such is the nature of
HYPE Hype hype h y p e ) ) )
You’d swear it was August and all these analcysts were writing this crap while sunning on the beach. Poor show all around.
Please refresh my memory. When has Apple ruined any company they’ve bought.
Someone once pestered me that Apple had bought an education company then buried it. I cried a single tear.
Claris/Filemaker lives on and thrives, at least on MY planet.
Not to mention that Claris and Filemaker *were* Apple first, then split off from Apple, not the other way around.
And eliminating the company but carrying on the product (even if rebranded) doesn’t exactly count. Coral’s software was integrated into Claris’s. Astarte’s into DVD Studio Pro and now Final Cut Suite.
I had to dig a bit deeper to find out what Particle was. Looks like their main business was HTML5 programming, which Apple has pushed more than anyone. I think it is safe to say that is still going strong.
Sure, there are some less successful stories, but not any failures in your list.
Let’s be clear here: Apple OWN FileMaker. They OWN it. That makes it a SUBSIDIARY of Apple.
http://www.filemaker.com
What does it say on the top left of the web page for FileMaker? Read along with me:
“FileMaker
An Apple Subsidiary”
thrives, you say? since when does the average Apple user know anything about Filemaker? Apple’s awkward attempt to dumb down Filemaker for consumer use was to create Bento, then abandon it. Apple has never integrated Filemaker technology into its iWork suite, and it’s certainly not an industry leader. It’s a niche product that hasn’t improved under Apple’s weak leadership.
So how
I don’t give a rat’s about anything you said…
EXCEPT I entirely agree about putting something of FileMaker into iWork. FileMaker killed off Bento. So why not just put Bento into iWork? What’s the story here? That is NOT Apple at its best. No average Apple user is going to use FileMaker. It’s a professional level database system! So stick a mini version into iWork already dammit! ClarisWorks / AppleWorks had a database! Didn’t it Apple! Get cracking!
The companies they bought to produce the first version of Apple maps. Apple maps was worse than the products the companies they purchased were producing by themselves. It’s finally getting better, but still not there yet.
Likewise Siri was a lot more extensible and adaptive before Apple purchased the company and dumbed it down for iOS and didn’t use a lot of the good bits that made it special…
Those are just 2 examples… there are more. They are great, they aren’t perfect…
I disagree on the Siri front. Apple made Siri more accessible by temporarily removing some of the more extemporaneous features until they are ready for the masses. Apple has brought this kind of intelligent agent technology to large groups of people in ways it never was before. That was only possible by doing it the way they did, a bit more simplified but mostly stable.
Apple adds in more and more features as they get them working smoothly with their other products and services, and finds ways to make Siri’s features work seamlessly as an API that anyone can plug into.
It is not about ruining the company; it is about ruining the product.
Think “iOS 6 -> iOS 7”
or
“Snow Leopard -> everything newer”.
Apple needs to keep Ives as far away as possible from Beats Music.
Why not just stop using and bitching about Apple if you’re so unhappy?
AT&T was using beatsradio, it didn’t seem that to have anything impressive compared to the other streaming services. Can anyone on here backup this guys article?
I just started using Beats Music and I love it. The ability to choose songs you like is much better than Pandora or iTunes Radio. The interface is great, and I find the music quality sounds better over my car speakers than from iTunes Radio or Pandora. Plus, the streaming is much less interrupted and each song starts faster, without a significant pause between songs.
Will I pay $15/mo for it? I haven’t decided yet. Probably not, but if Apple is really acquiring it then I expect that price will reduce significantly.
I was skeptical. Why is Apple buying Beats? So, I signed up yesterday and tried it for 7 days free. After using it for 24 hours now, I have to say that I am impressed. The iPad app is one of the most fluid and beautiful apps i have used. The experience is very Apple like. The design is polished. The thing that really impresses me is the speed of the music downloads to your device. It screams in performance. I downloaded all my favorites, and can listen to the music off-line. Funny thing, is that when i first started listening, i found an album i really liked. So, I went to the iTunes store to purchase it. It was $13.99. (too much for me). Then I went back into Beats… where i discovered i could download the album for free. and even listen to it when offline. That is the kind of model I think will sell !
One more thing….
What if Apple used this same App and service to deliver not only music, but also TV shows, movies, books, and more?
I’m loving it. I encourage all MDNers to try Beats today and share your opinions.
Exactly! The better companies have figured out that to be good, they need to be Apple-like (i.e. intuitive, clean, functional, consistent).
Meanwhile, Apple is becoming very unApple-like.
Downloaded the Beats app. Couldn’t do anything until you register. The second thing they wanted was my mobile phone number. Don’t have one, and it’s none of their damn business even if I did just to listen to music. Deleted. Not impressed.
I can understand not wanting to give away your mobile phone number.
I can’t understand not having a mobile phone number.
Yes, you have to register because Beats Music builds a composite of your likes and chooses music for you. You can then look and find anything else you want. And how did you download an app without a mobile number?
I don’t know Bob. He could have an iPod touch or a Wi-Fi only iPad.
If you are on AT&T, you get a free 3 month subscription. That’s the reason for the number.
I’ve tried (and paid) for all of them (Slacker, Pandora, Spotify,SiriusXM, Songza, RDIO). I’ve been using Beats Music for about 2 months and have found it the best service so far. Best interface for the the iPhone & iPad, as well as the deepest music library. I really could care less is Apple buys the company or not. But if they do, don’t screw up the great music coming through my non-Beats headphones.
a camel is a horse built by committee its endemic to large organizations that people who have dim understanding of whats going on get a vote anyway .Without some one who is willing to play the baddest mother in the valley (aka Jobs) regular corporate ass covering will prevail. i think it was a mistake to fire the maps guy just because a 3 d app could not parse shadows on moving water correctly . at first Siri never missed for me …not so much lately (Ps i use filemaker pro all the time but what i don’t get is it can’t read my old os9 clarisworks files making old work inaccessible
Beats Music SUCKS!!!! They aquired MOG and destroyed the best subscription music service the world has ever seen! Spotify is the king now.