Apple have published a press release in relation to the acquisition of the Beats Music company, the press release confirms the rumours of the $3 billion dollar price tag on the deal.
The original offer on the table of $3.2 billion was reduced after a somewhat over excited Dr Dre leaked information of the deal on social media sites, as reported here on 9to5 Mac
It has been suggested that Dre is set to bag a hefty $750 million dollars from the sale, as he has a portfolio containing shares amounting to 25% of the business.
It’s not clear how Apple are going to use this new partnership to further its empire, however they have certainly taken on some industry leading talent as far as embracing music is concerned. Beats have been at the forefront of the music headphone market since early 2009 when their iconic over the ear phones came to market.
Beats where originally considered to be somewhat of a fashion accessory, however rapidly proved they could hold their own as they started wining awards for sound quality. Back in July last year reports came out that Beats was on track to make $1.4 billion in revenue, and confirmed that Beats continued to dominate the headphone market.
Not only are Beats synonymous for their headphone line up, they also bring a pretty impressive music streaming service to the table. Last year Apple released the iTunes Radio service, which in some way is like that which Beats pipe out. Beats music streaming service is a subscription service that costs £99 per annum for 1 account supporting 3 devices.
The iTunes radio service is ad free and available to all iTunes match customers which is priced at just £21.99 a year.
Although the deal comes far too late in the day to expect any groundbreaking unveils at this years WWDC, we can no doubt expect future hardware and software releases in the not too distant future. After all, who wants to spend $3 billion and not start capitalising on it right away!?