“In the weeks since Apple bought Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion, I have been forced to listen to a number of audiophile friends rant about the technical superiority of other headphones, such as Sennheiser, Bose and JBL (just to name a few),” Chris Kocek writes for Entrepreneur. “Inevitably, at the end of their long-winded diatribes, they always ask me the same question: ‘Why did Apple pay so much for such an inferior product?’ In a word: branding.”
“When Apple bought Beats, they didn’t just buy a collection of products. They bought a brand. They bought street cred. They bought a beautifully wrapped up pop-culture icon that had an incalculable amount of perceived value,” Kocek writes. “From the very beginning, Beats got its product into just about every music video, mixing studio, locker room, dressing room and runway… When every major athlete and musician is wearing your product, people take notice.”
Kocek writes, “More importantly, customers didn’t ask questions about product specs and technical details. They figure if it’s good enough for Li’l Wayne or Nicki Minaj, it must be the best that’s out there and worth the $300 price tag. Right?”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
Beats. A triumph of marketing over sound quality. – MacDailyNews Take, May 8, 2014
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