Apple for the day

The BBC has an article about a rich guy, now a lot richer:

In an image provided by Apple (above), from left to right, music entrepreneur and Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Beats co-founder Dr. Dre, and Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue pose together at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California. 

Apple has confirmed it will buy headphone maker and music-streaming service provider Beats Electronics.The deal is worth a total of three billion dollars, and is thought to be Apple's largest acquisition to date. As part of the acquisition, Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre will join the technology firm.
Apple boss Tim Cook said the deal would allow the firm to "continue to create the most innovative music products and services in the world".
In a statement, Apple said it is paying an initial two-and-a-half billion for Beats, and approximately four hundred million "that will vest over time".
Beats was founded in 2008 by music producer Jimmy Iovine and hip-hop star Dr Dre and until recently was best known for its headphones (photo, top). It started a subscription-based music streaming service earlier this year.
Apple has its own iTunes store, the world's largest music download service, and launched iTunes Radio last year. But, despite having been an early pioneer of digital music, the California firm has been facing increased competition from subscription services such as Spotify, Pandora, and Rdio.
There had been speculation that Apple might drastically cut its offer price for Beats or pull the deal altogether, after a video of Dr Dre describing himself as hip-hop's first billionaire leaked online. But the deal has now been confirmed for only two hundred million less than what had originally been reported.
The press release announcing the tie-up mentions Beats' "premium sound entertainment", but there has been criticism of its headphones' sound quality. However, there's no doubting their popularity or the skill of Beats' co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre in building up the brand.
It's questionable whether Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs would have been willing to share the limelight with two such outspoken personalities. But the challenge for the more reserved Tim Cook is to bring the two firms' very different cultures together, and to make the most of the Beats brand, as he delivers on a promise to launch new products this year.
However, Beats' music service only has about a quarter-million paying subscribers, compared with Spotify's ten million.
The deal with Beats also marks a departure for Apple, which has a reputation for developing new products in-house, rather than buying up smaller firms, a method preferred by rival Google.
But, in an interview with The New York Times, Cook hinted that Beats' founders may have been part of the attraction. "Could Eddy's team [referring to Eddy Cue, Apple executive in charge of iTunes] have built a subscription service? Of course," he told the newspaper. "You don't build everything yourself. It's not one thing that excites us here. It's the people. It's the service. These guys are really unique," Cook added. "It's like finding the precise grain of sand on the beach. They're rare and very hard to find."
The Apple boss also said that Dre and Iovine would be coming up with "products you haven't thought of yet".
Technology writer Benedict Evans tweeted: "If you think Apple's lost it, Beats deal is confirmation. If you don't, it's… perplexing. Few really convincing rationales."
Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine, who made his name as chairman of the Interscope Geffen A&M record label, welcomed the deal. "I've always known in my heart that Beats belonged with Apple," he said.
Apple analyst Jim Dalrymple hinted that it may be Iovine's talent that the technology firm is after. Writing on his website The Loop, Dalrymple said: "In my opinion, Jimmy is going to play an important role going forward. Maybe not that you always see, but he'll be there".
As well as headphones, Beats sells earphones and portable speakers, and has even developed partnerships with carmakers and computer manufacturers to include its BeatsAudio software technology in their products. The company's flagship products have also received several celebrity endorsements, with stars including Lady Gaga, Lil Wayne, and Nicki Minaj designing their own customized Beats headphones.
Subject to regulatory approvals, Apple said it expects the deal to close in the fourth financial quarter of this year.

Rico says it is, as ever, good to be the prince...