Apple's acquisition of Beats Electronics certainly came out of the blue, but the company does have some notable history. Along with the revelation that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was a long-time fan of Jimmy Iovine - the guy who has manned Beats since its inception along with Dr. Dre - a conference call between Dre and Jobs has recently come to light where the two men discuss Apple's iTunes music service.
This week's big tech headline came on Thursday, as it was revealed that Beats Electronics was to be acquired by Apple for a upward of $3 billion. Not only does it represent the Cupertino's costliest purchase in its history, but it's also the first time that Apple has moved in for a high-profile, well-known commercial entity, and its a move that will also render Beats' two most influential figures - Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine - members of Apple's executive team.
The Beats Music brand has really taken the headphone and speaker market by storm, and while there are plenty of purists who would argue that the entire Beats product line is more about style than substance, there's no doubt that the foundations have well and truly been laid for a streaming music service. Speaking with The Next Web, a Beats executive has confirmed that an official iOS app is in the pipeline, and although an Android version, as well as a Web offering, will eventually become available, the release to the iTunes App Store is at the top of the company's agenda.
The consumer technology industry is ever-changing and we have seen companies make some radical and rather risky decisions in the past in an attempt to get ahead of the game, sometimes you just have to sit back in amazement and rub your eyes a few times to make sure that what you are actually reading is accurate and not some kind of on-screen word play trickery. For me, this is one of those times, as reports are suggesting that Dr. Dre's Beats company has its eye on some serious expansion in the near future and could be set to launch an all out marketplace assault on the world’s most valuable company, Apple.
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