Apple has killed some Beats products recently, such as the Beats Pill+ and the Beats Solo Pro. Now, the company appears to have revived its speaker for another collaboration with Devin Booker and Book Projects with a customized Beats Pill+ inspired by the Sonoran Desert.
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Apple has collaborated with English-Iranian fashion designer Paria Farzaneh on a special edition pair of Powerbeats Pro – the yellow and purple design showcases the London-based designer’s unique style. These earbuds are exclusively on sale through Canadian-based retailer, SSENSE.
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Last week, 9to5Mac found on internal iOS 14.6 files that Apple is working on new earbuds under the Beats brand called “Beats Studio Buds.” Now, the first real-world images leaked online ahead of the headphones officially launching.
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Luke Wood, left, pictured with Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre (photo: Kevin Mazur/Wire)
Beats President Luke Wood, who runs the audio products side of the business, told Mashable that the acquisition was a great fit because the company shared DNA with Apple.
We’re looking at our little audio slice of the world and trying to focus on creating a stellar product experience. I think that’s also the fundamental DNA of everything Steve wanted to accomplish at Apple. By product experience, that includes ID, design, technology, innovation, simplicity. Those are always things that have been fundamental to our DNA, too.
He said that the early days of low-quality digital music resulted in a ‘lost generation’ for premium audio, but that we now live in a very different world …
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Justin Bieber <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3oStEyoXT8" target="_blank">wearing Monster-branded Spider-Man Beats headphones</a> in 2010
Years before Apple bought Beats Electronics, the Beats by Dr. Dre-branded headphones were produced in part by audio and video equipment maker Monster. After Beats decided to let its contract with Monster expire in 2012, however, the cable maker saw Apple’s $3 billion purchase of the company as reason to sue. Now Monster claims, after filing its lawsuit in January, that Apple is pushing it out of the MFi program that allows manufacturers to advertise compatibility with and use the iPhone maker’s licensed technology when producing and selling accessories…
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Apple is aiming to sign up a massive 100M subscribers for its streaming music service, according to a source cited by the Associated Press (reproduced in the NY Times). This would be more than double the subscriptions for all other streaming music services combined.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry says that existing worldwide streaming subscriptions total around 41M across all services. The market leader, Spotify, has around 4.7M subscribers in the USA …
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Apple has issued a rare recall notice on one of its products today: the Beats Pill XL portable Bluetooth speaker sold in Apple Stores and various other retailers. The voluntary recall cites a situation in which the battery can overheat and become a fire hazard. Apple purchased Beats Electronics and Beats Music for some $3 billion in 2014. The current Beats Pill XL hardware has remained the same since Apple purchased the speaker company. Press release below:
Continuing its high-level executive hiring spree, Apple has recruited Dolby Executive Vice President Mike Rockwell to become an executive in its hardware division, 9to5Mac has learned. According to a source, Rockwell has likely been hired to bolster the audio and display performance of future Apple products, which could include anything from next-generation Apple monitors to professional audio/video editing tools to speakers. Rockwell’s LinkedIn profile confirms he joined Apple in February but does not specify his role.
Apple will expand its support capabilities for Beats by Dre hardware products, like headphones and speakers, next week by launching web-based chat support, according to sources. Customers in need of support for their Beats devices will be able to instant message with a support representative via Apple’s support website beginning on Monday, February 23rd. In January, Apple began moving Beats phone-based support wholly in-house after still using the headphone maker’s outsourced support for most of last year. Apple began servicing Beats products in its retail stores late last year.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrlLcb7zYmw]
Before there was his current Apple gig, there was Dr. Dre’s storied rise from the streets of Compton to global hiphop sensation and producer which eventually led to the headphone, speaker, and streaming music brand and Jimmy Iovine partnership with Beats.
This is the Hollywood version of that story which Dr. Dre co-produced.
Straight Outta Compton – Red Band Trailer with Introduction from Dr. Dre and Ice Cube (HD) (Official)
The Story of N.W.A. – In Theaters August 14th
http://www.straightouttacompton.com/In the mid-1980s, the streets of Compton, California, were some of the most dangerous in the country. When five young men translated their experiences growing up into brutally honest music that rebelled against abusive authority, they gave an explosive voice to a silenced generation. Following the meteoric rise and fall of N.W.A., Straight Outta Compton tells the astonishing story of how these youngsters revolutionized music and pop culture forever the moment they told the world the truth about life in the hood and ignited a cultural war.
Starring O’Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell as Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Eazy-E, Straight Outta Compton is directed by F. Gary Gray (Friday, Set It Off, The Italian Job). The drama is produced by original N.W.A. members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, who are joined by fellow producers Matt Alvarez and Tomica Woods-Wright. Will Packer serves as executive producer of the film alongside Gray.
Apple is in the process of winding down Beats Electronics’ outsourced phone support ties and moving technical support completely in-house via AppleCare, according to sources. Beats Electronics phone support is currently split between Apple and Sitel, a customer support outsourcing firm, and Apple is aiming to completely end that relationship as soon as March. Apple cut several Beats jobs in July following the acquisition. Sitel employees have confirmed that they will be moved to new technical support positions for other companies, and AppleCare employees similarly confirmed that Beats support will soon be handled completely internally. Apple acquired Beats Electronics and Beats Music in May 2014 for $3 billion, and sales transitioned to the Apple Online Store in August. Apple Store Genius Bars began servicing Beats products late last year.
Beats Electronics has definitely faced its share of lawsuits after being acquired by Apple, but today yet another company has announced that it’ll be taking the electronics maker to court. Rival Monster has filed a claim against Beats that alleges the latter stole its headphone tech.
The original Beats headphones were designed in conjunction with Monster, but Monster CEO Noel Lee says that Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre took what they learned from his company—and the technology that powered the headphones—then simply slapped Dre’s name on it.
You can see the full complaint below:
Apple is looking to hire a new Head of Social Media and Content that will lead and expand on its current social media strategy. The job will be based out of Culver City, which could hint at Apple’s plans to align its overall social media strategy closer with its recently acquired Beats Electronics division which is located there. The West LA office is also in close proximity to its lead global Ad/Marketing agency Media Arts Lab.
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Apple is making a big push with gift cards for the holidays with the most notable change being gift cards for its retail stores arriving through third-party retailers, according to sources. The company already sold iTunes/App Store gift certificates through a number of retail parters, but it has just recently started selling its Apple Store gift cards outside its own channels as well. Apple Retail will also make changes to repair procedures tomorrow including the introduction of in-store repairs for Beats products.
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Streaming music service Rdio has reduced the price of its family membership plans to match the deal Spotify announced last month of half-price subscriptions for additional family members. This means the first member pays the standard $10/month fee while up to four extra family members get their own account for $5/month.
Rdio has offered family memberships for several years now, but this price reduction brings the service into line with Spotify. As with Spotify, each family member gets their own playlists, keeping things tidy – especially now that you can listen to Rdio in your car thanks to CarPlay support.
With our Family Plan, say goodbye to having only one person being able to listen at a time — or having to share favorites and playlists that aren’t really your own. And say goodbye to friends wondering why “you” are listening to your kid’s music that’s overcrowding the Home feed.
Interestingly, $5/month is rumored to be Apple’s target price when it relaunches Beats Music under its own branding. The company has reportedly been asking record labels to reduce the fees they charge for music streaming to make the deal possible. It has been suggested that the relaunch may take place in February.
Apple has been under pressure to launch a true on-demand music streaming service in addition to iTunes Radio as the money continues to move from downloads to streaming.
Apple and its Beats by Dre group seem to be close to announcing a new pair of headphones: a Bluetooth version of their popular Solo2 headphones. Earlier this year, Beats launched the Solo2 wired earphones as a cheaper alternative to the Studio cans. Today, a wireless version has been revealed thanks to the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) testing department.
As can be seen in the image above from today’s FCC filing, the design of the wireless model is akin to the wired model. The only difference appears to be the Bluetooth connectivity. The documents specify that Bluetooth 4.0 Low-Energy technology is utilized.
Interestingly, these documents indicate that these headphones are Apple-branded:
Apple’s Jimmy Iovine was at the first annual Revolt Music Conference this week to accept a “SFTB award” (named after Drake’s lyric “started from the bottom now we here”) for his climb to an executive position in one of the most valuable companies in the world after starting out as an audio engineer in a New York studio.
In the speech, which is embedded above, Iovine recounted once again the story of how he met Dr. Dre and founded Beats Electronics (even though Dre wanted to go into the sneaker business). He also touched on Steve Jobs’ role as his inspiration during that fateful meeting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCOgaWSfxxs
I’m from Akron so I guess this should hit home for me (0:18 Swensons represent!). But the marriage between Apple and Beats still feels strange and writing about athlete endorsement videos is out of our usual scope. This is clearly the Beats creative doing what they do best.
PowerBeats2, which are a $50 upgrade from Monster-produced PowerBeats originals get a charitable 3/5 stars on Apple’s Store and 3.7 stars at Amazon where they are $199.99.
Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine responded to a recent fine levied by the NFL against 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick for wearing Beats headphones during a post-game interview. Iovine said that he was glad players considered Beats ‘cool’ and that the company had gotten millions of dollars worth of publicity out of the media coverage surrounding the ban and subsequent fine.
Apple’s Beats Electronics and Bose have settled a lawsuit over noise-cancelling headphone technology and asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to end its investigation into the matter. Bloomberg reports:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ttsx5squWg
High end headphone manufacturer Bose has secured a deal with the National Football League in which it will be the sole headphone worn during official interviews and on screen appearances, according to Re/Code:
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Apple has begun pushing the Beats Music streaming service via email to iTunes customers. The emails promote the free-to-download Beats Music app’s “Just For You” and “Tune Your Taste” features and note that Beats is now “part of the Apple family.” Apple finalized its acquisition of both Beats Music and Beats Electronics at the beginning of this month, and Apple has already begun promoting Beats Electronics via a new section on the online store and notable discounts. This email push is the second Apple promotion of the streaming app as the company has already integrated the app into the App Store’s “Apps by Apple” category. Full email below:
Update (8/19 9:15am): This sale is also live at Amazon and Best Buy.
A couple weeks following the closing of Apple’s acquisition of Beats Electronics and the Beats Music streaming service, Apple has cut the price of all Beats by Dr. Dre products by 10% in both its physical retail stores and official online store…
Earlier this week we reported that Apple had added Beats Music to its Apple Apps prompt for customers opening the App Store for the first time following its $3 billion acquisition of Beats Electronics and Beats Music.
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