But it has successful enough to attract Apple who bought them for $3.2 B. They started a music streaming service focusing on quality and curation with mild success.
HTC purchased a majority stake in them to use their brand on cell phones. They licensed their brand and expertize to HP and Crysler. Justin Beiber, Lady Gaga, and P.Diddy had their names on custom editions of the headphones. They followed this initial success by expanding their line into ear buds, on ear headphones, over the ear headphones and Bluetooth speakers. This made the first generation a break out success. They launched and put Beats into music videos and the artists into their ads. They received feedback from top music artists and emotionally invested them into the success of the product. They solicited the help of Ammunition and Monster to design, build and distribute the original headphones. Dre to bring the emotion back to music by bringing back sound quality.
Jimmy Iovine realized that music videos were the key to reaching younger music listeners. Jimmy Iovine’s insight about product placement in music videos made Beats by Dre a billion dollar brand.
