“It was reported last week that Apple would soon stop selling Bose headphones and speakers at its Apple Store locations,” Zac Hall reports for 9to5Mac. “Previously, a variety of Bose headphones and speakers were demoed at each Apple Store location and available for purchase there and online.”
“All Bose speakers and headphones have since been completely removed from sale through the Apple Online Store and several Apple Retail Store locations we’ve contacted have confirmed Bose inventory is no longer available,” Hall reports. “Apple does still sell other competing headphone brands including Bowers & Wilkins, Urbanears, RHA, Sennheiser, and more suggesting the Bose move was more targeted.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Apple’s Beats, Bose settle patent suit over noise-canceling tech – October 10, 2014
Apple to remove Bose audio products from retail stores, sources say – October 10, 2014
Bose sues Apple’s Beats over noise-canceling patents – July 25, 2014
Turnabout is fair play.
Targeted? Yeah, Bose is shit for starters!
Yeah and so are your tastes.
Bose, like Apple, is never perfect. But they’re creative. I champion creative.
It’s sad that this has happened. But Bose apparently brought this down on themselves by picking on Apple via the usual patent contentions. I’m glad Apple and Bose sorted out the lawsuit, but in reality: Bose lost.
Beats is designed for looks and to appeal to rappers and teens. Bose is designed for sound. I’ll never buy a headset named, “Beats”.
Always think of Bose as good but very conservative, solid but a bit overpriced, just my perception of the company but strike me a bit like a poor man’s Bang & Olufsen though less pretentious and a bit better quality per price point- more substance and less style. Im sure there are as good or better products out there though they may not be Beats.
Perhaps they weren’t selling . . . well enough for Apple to put up with them.
I wish Bose ‘Good Luck’ replacing Apple as a global distribution channel.
Maybe they can get a place in the Microsoft stores.
There is a saying in show business which says “Never upset the piano player!”, basically an equivalent to “Never piss off anybody who makes your food”. You would think Bose would be aware of that, however it would appear not.
The votes would indicate that there are a few Bose fans visiting today. Welcome!
I’m sure this has something to do with the Bose contract with the NFL and how Bose has banned players from using Beats headphones at games and even in their locker rooms before the games. At least one player has been fined $10k for wearing them.
The OFFICIAL vs UNofficial headphones debacle. Gang warfare. (o_O)
But don’t forget the Bose vs Apple sound cancelation patent lawsuit. We don’t know what was the final settlement, but this is clearly fallout falling on Bose, the real losers here.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/07/25/bose-files-lawsuit-against-apples-beats-over-noise-canceling-tech
I agree! Bose was sold by a premier retailer, globally. This is a huge loss for Bose.
No highs, no lows, gotta be Bose …
So true. Bose has good noise canceling technology, and I like my Bose Bluetooth headset, but the audio, whether car or home is crap. The sound is auto-equalized by Bose to sound good through their speakers, not speakers to make the music sound true.
Sounds like my comments above confirm my feelings about the company.
Sue us, fsck off!
Lessons learned from Shamscum relations…
The saying you hear on the audiophile boards: “No highs, no lows, it must be Bose.”
Oops, somebody beat me to it. Never mind–er…what he said!
Bose are better than Beats. Anybody that knows anything about audio will testify!
I second that …. Never like Beats in the first place, I respect Bose for thats what they do, Beats are just celebrity endorse crap just to look cool because you have one & if you know anything about sound & quality these would be the last in my list.
Beats sold me a pair only once. Failed within 30 days. Never again.
Anybody who knows anything about audio wouldn’t testify to anything about Bose *or* Beats, other than that there are far superior, less-expensive alternatives to either.
For sound canceling, which brand headphones do you recommend?
Anybody that SERIOUSLY knows about audio won’t get hung up on a particular brand. I compared a set of Senn Momentum On ear to my mother’s Bose OE2i which sounded great. Granted, the music wasn’t Tchaikovsky in DSD, but that’s not the purpose of this types of headset.
Their in-ear Sound True sound about as good as my HiFi Man set for about the same price.
Their full size around ear sound good but not as good as my slightly more expensive Beyedynamics.
I’ve got a 13 year old Wave CD player that still works and sounds great.
The Bose Soundlink Mini simply sounds incredible for its size.
I’ve also had some crap from Bose that I have gotten rid of, like their 151 speakers and the original CineMate system. Pure crap.
Beats new Solo2 are getting good reviews like this one
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/time-rethink-beats-solo2-excellent
and a simple search will help you find more objective review of some of Bose products.
(BTW, I only have one Bose product in my house, and that is the WaveCD player. It was your line “Anybody who knows anything about audio” that set this off)
My only Bose experience.
I’ve still got a pair of small powered Bose speakers that I bought from Circuit City for around $80 in the late 80’s. The pick up department gave me two boxes which surprised me. Got home and I had two sets of the speakers. A few days later I went back to CC with my receipt and the extra speakers. The brain trust at CC told me that I was supposed to receive two boxes. I wound up giving one set to a friend. Thank you CC. These speakers sound great hooked up to my desktop Mac playing songs through iTunes.
Here’s a tip: Nordstrom sales bonus products with their usual no questions asked lifetime guarantee. Picked up a sound like there.
Not for nothing guys but the headphone displays in many apple stores are nothing to be amazed by. In most cases many headphones are broken be it bose or others, wires are shorted and or ipods demoing them are out of juice because they arent plugged in. People commenting on this article are acting like the apple store chain is the only chain to be at. First they have their own stores second the have some demos at bestbuy, sears and other stores. They deffinitely can place their lineup in other places. Ive yet to buy a headphone based on my having them be demoed at an apple store. First i own 2 different brands of sound companies for my stuff. Bowers and wilkins P7 better to me than any Bose. Secondly i own a Cinemate gs 2 from bose and its excellent for my needs. I have a good Yamaha receiver but dont really use it currently. So im not a loyalist by a long shot but people need to understand everyone has different tastes and everyones taste varies from person to person. There is no wrong or right to whats like so criticisms arent required. Bose is very expensive but at the same time ive seen million dollar speakers yes there are such price points. Point is its based on what you consider as expensive. To me bose is good to others it may not be is what it is.
I never really liked Bose but not sure if I like Beats either?
Thank God there’s always eBay
I’ve been a Bose fan for decades. I even worked for them back in the ’90s. I think they make some of the best sounding headphones and speakers on the planet. I can’t say the same for Beats. They have the best selling headphones, but they are certainly not the best sounding for the price. Though I believe this is their fault, I hope they wise up before it hurts their reputation beyond repair and affect their bottom line.