Six years ago Apple dropped $3 billion on its largest acquisition ever to acquire Beats Electronics. Music mogul Jimmy Iovine and hip-hop legend Dr. Dre built the consumer electronics brand into a household name, and Beats-branded headphones were flying off the shelves.
Apple could tell. It sold Beats headphones and speakers in Apple Stores so the success of Beats was no secret. Beats also had a months-old streaming music service that Apple used to build Apple Music, but it’s clear in retrospect that Apple also saw continued value in Beats as a hardware brand.
That’s why it may come as a surprise to see reports that Apple plans to phase out the Beats brand in the future.
9to5Mac can report that this is not a strategy that Apple plans to pursue. The strategy is not one that should be viewed as being on the table for Apple, 9to5Mac has learned.
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