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This has been an interesting month, to say the least. Last week, rumors spread like wildfire that Apple was in the market to buy Beats Electronics, including the hardware and software departments, for the bargain price of $3.2 billion. Yes, billion. Hours after the rumor started, Beats co-founder Andre Young (Dr. Dre) was seen celebrating becoming “the first billionaire in hip-hop” with actor Tyrese Gibson on YouTube.
Nothing official has been announced, but the rumor is strong enough that it has since spawned a number of predictions from the tech community, including one from former Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ biographer, Walter Isaacson.
Isaacson told Billboard Magazine that believes that Apple hopes to place Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine in charge of the company’s content business to shake hands with media moguls in the music and television industries.
“Isaacson thinks the Apple-Beats deal is not about headphones or streaming music but rather is about video. He speculates that Cook wants Iovine to run Apple’s content business and help Apple launch the TV product that analysts have been gossiping about for years. The product has been held up because Apple can’t get all the content owners on board.”
Iovine is a co-founder of the now massive record label Interscope, and was once a chairman for Interscope Geffen A&M, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. He also co-produced the Academy Award winning movie “8 Mile,” starring Eminem. His connection to the music and film industry is a solid one. Heading the content portion of Apple’s business could finally help the company make the right deals with cable companies to get that rumored Apple television set into our living rooms.
[Via: MacRumors]
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