Apple has confirmed long standing rumors that it plans to acquire Beats Electronics. Confirmation comes via Apple CEO Tim Cook, who released a statement via Apple's PR department. Cook highlighted the importance of music to Apple, and Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine says that he had "always known in his heart" that Beats belonged with Apple.
"I've always known in my heart that Beats belonged with Apple," said Jimmy Iovine. "The idea when we started the company was inspired by Apple's unmatched ability to marry culture and technology. Apple's deep commitment to music fans, artists, songwriters and the music industry is something special."
Certainly, Beats and Apple are both prime examples of a company leveraging brand loyalty and culture to move inventory. Now, Iovine and co-founder Dr Dre will join Apple, though the details of their roles in Cupertino remain unknown.
The deal is valued at $3 billion and actually covers two companies, Beats Electronics and Beats Music. The latter is the subscription music service that launched earlier this year. When this news first came out earlier this month (Financial Times had it first week of May), we figured the Beats Music service might be the real reason Apple was after Beats. Sure, the Beats Electronics brand is strong, and Apple has sold Beats audio products in its stores for years. The company sells music through iTunes and runs iTunes Radio, but Apple no doubt wants to snag the folks who are willing to pay a subscription every month to listen to all the music they want.
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