Beats Electronics

The first headphones released by Beats by Dre since they've been acquired by Apple fully has come to fruition. This set of Solo2 wireless headphones is wireless for the first time. You'll also be able to connect this pair of headphones in with what they're calling a "RemoteTalk" cable if you've used up the 12 hours of battery time these phones contain when fully charged. They won't have a big Apple logo on their earpieces, but they'll certainly have Apple on the box - in the footnotes, at least.

Continue Reading

It seems as though Apple may be readying a new set of Beats headphones for us, or at least an update to the existing lineup. The Solo2 is one of the more popular pair of Beats headphones around, and serve as a lower cost option to the Studio headset. A new FCC filing suggests we’re about to get a Bluetooth version of those headphones, but that’s not where the news ends. It seems Apple isn’t making the changes we previously assumed they might.

Continue Reading

So you saw Beats Music earlier this year and were impressed, but not enough to pay the monthly fee imposed until now? It may be that Apple has seen what Beats Music (now owned by Apple) is all about and wants to cut the price per month. The new pricing - in a pitch heard thirdhand from Apple - is being suggested at $5 USD. That price might never be met. What’s far more likely is that Apple will cut the price, but that music labels they’re working with will still want at least $7 or $8 USD from end users like you.

Continue Reading

A lot has been speculated on regarding Apple’s relationship with third-party entities lately, as both Bose and Fitbit have reportedly come under fire as having offended Apple’s sensibilities. In Fitbit’s case, it seems to be their resistance to support HealthKit that allegedly has them on the edge of being removed from the Apple Store. Bose and the NFL have a partnership that saw athletes being fined for wearing Beats headphones. Suddenly, a search for Bose headphones in the Apple Store brings up no products.

Continue Reading

Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, has become the first NFL player to be punished for wearing Beats headphones following last week's policy change by the league banning all non-Bose headphones. Due to an exclusive sponsorship deal with Bose, the NFL prohibits players and coaches from appearing in any competitors' headphones during interviews, both during games and off-season training, as well as for 90 minutes after a game ends.

Continue Reading

Bose has settled a patent dispute against Apple-owned Beats. The suit alleged that Beats was using Bose noise-canceling technology in their headsets, but had no permission to do so, and was not licensing the tech from Bose. Bose was also seeking an import ban on all Beats products. Apple and Bose made a joint filing in a Delaware court acknowledging the settlement, and asked that the US International Trade commission end their investigation. Case closed, except for that pesky rumor about Apple Stores.

Continue Reading

If you’ve not been keeping up with the world of sports, there’s some shady business going on in the NFL. The league has a new sponsor in Bose, which isn’t at all bad. The problem is the league is fining players for using non-Bose headphones, should they be photographed with them on. Adding a layer of complexity to the issue is that players tend to prefer Beats headphones, which is an Apple product. Now it seems Apple may be striking back, removing Bose products from stores.

Continue Reading

The appearance of the Beats By Dre line of headphones on professional athletes is easily one of the top reasons the brand has become so recognizable in the last few years, and becoming the leader the of the so-called "premium headphone" market. While a number of professional athletes have direct sponsorship contracts with the Apple-owned Beats, don't expect to see them of the heads of NFL players any longer, as a new marketing deal with Bose prevents the rival headphones from appearing on camera.

Continue Reading

Apple has taken action against Steve Lamar over claims that he is a co-founder of Beats, which he is reportedly using to market his own headphones company Roam. A lawsuit was filed this past Friday seeking damages, as well as complete removal of all claims about contributing to the company.

Continue Reading

This morning its become apparent that Apple is hosting more than a few top-level recording artists at their big event this afternoon. The first and possibly most important of these is Dr. Dre - Apple employee. He’ll be joined by no less than Gwen Stefani - complete with a white iPhone and white Beats headphones in tow.

Continue Reading

Now that Apple and Beats are officially one and the same, some confusion has abounded about where Beats employees might end up. Previous reports suggested many (read: most) Beats employees would be let go, as their jobs were redundant with Apple. Subsequent reports placed the number of affected employees much lower, and the latest news points to zero firings -- for now.

Continue Reading

It would appear that Apple’s acquisition of Beats by Dre, aka Beats Electronics, aka Beats Music, has been finalized. With it comes a message from Beats, likely written by a top wordsmith from Apple. It sounds that way, anyway, bringing on words that deem Beats headphones worthy of sitting alongside the iPod, iPad, and iPhone as Apple’s key "instruments."

Continue Reading