Beats Electronics
 | |
| Company type | Consumer electronics |
|---|---|
| Industry | Audio |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Headquarters | Santa Monica, California |
Area served | Global |
Key people | Dr. Dre, Jimmy Iovine, Luke Wood |
| Products | Headphones Audio equipment and accessories |
| $59,385,294 (2011) | |
| Owner | HTC, Dr. Dre, Jimmy Iovine, Universal Music Group |
Number of employees | 3,500 |
| Website | beatsbydre.com |
Beats Electronics, LLC is a producer of audio products and equipment headquartered in Santa Monica, California. The company was founded by hip-hop/rap artist and entrepreneur Andre "Dr. Dre" Young and Interscope-Geffen-A&M Records chairman Jimmy Iovine, and primarily produces products under the brand Beats by Dr. Dre.
Since its inception, its products have been primarily manufactured and developed in collaboration with consumer electronics company Monster Cable. The collaboration has led to financial success for both companies—Beats headphones accounted for 9% of the monetary value of the headphones market in the year 2010, and has also led to competition from other headphone brands seeking to emulate the success of Beats by introducing lines with similar celebrity endorsements.[1]
Dr. Dre, Jimmy Iovine, Universal Music Group and HTC Corporation all own shares in Beats.
History
The company was founded in 2007, and debuted its first product, Beats by Dr. Dre Studio headphones, in late 2008. Monster was granted exclusive rights under a 5 year-contract to manufacture and develop Beats-branded headphones. With Monster handling production of the products, Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre were now free to handle promoting the new line. Beats would primarily rely on celebrity endorsements, particularly by popular musicians, to help market the line to a youth-oriented demographic.[1]
In August 2011, mobile phone manufacturer HTC acquired a 51% majority share in Beats for $300 million. The purchase was intended to allow HTC to take advantage of Beats' popularity and promotion in order to position itself as a bigger competitor to other smartphone makers.[2] The purchase also granted HTC exclusive rights to manufacture smartphones with Beats-branded audio systems.[3] Despite its majority acquisition, HTC would still allow Beats to operate as an autonomous company.[3]
On January 12, 2012, Business Week reported that Beats and Monster would not renew their production contract and would be ending their partnership by the end of 2012.[1] Monster began to market its own line of headphone products at the start of the year, aiming towards an older demographic, women, and business professionals.[1]
In March 2012, reports surfaced that Beats was planning to acquire the online music service MOG.[4] The acquisition was officially confirmed on July 2, 2012, reported to have been between $10 to $16 million. Beats chose to acquire MOG due to its use of high quality streams for its music library—which supports Beats' aim to create "a truly end-to-end music experience." The acquisition will not include the company's blog and advertising network, the MOG Music Network.[5][6]
In July 2012, HTC sold back 25% from its 51% of its shares in the company, in order to provide "flexibility for global expansion while maintaining HTC’s major stake and commercial exclusivity in mobile."[2]
Products
Beats' original product line were Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. Dr. Dre outlined in promotional materials that with most headphones, listeners are not able to hear "all" of the music, and that Beats would allow people "to hear what the artists hear, and listen to the music the way they should: the way I do."[7].
Alongside Beats headphones, it has also licensed the Beats brand and technology to other manufacturers. In 2011, HP began to offer personal computers (such as Envy laptops, its all-in-one TouchSmart desktops and its TouchPad webOS tablet) equipped with Beats Audio systems, which feature an advanced software equalizer with a preset optimized for higher quality sound output.[8] Beats also partnered with Chrysler, incorporating a 10-speaker Beats by Dr. Dre sound system in its 2012 Chrysler 300S luxury automobile.[9]
Following its acquisition of a stake in Beats, HTC began to release smartphones with a Beats Audio equalizer, starting with the HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio HTC Sensation XL With Beats Audio in September 2011.[10] Other new HTC phones, such as the HTC One X, HTC Evo 4G LTE, HTC One V and HTC One S, also include Beats Audio.[11]
The following is a list of their products:
| Type | Product name | Endorser |
|---|---|---|
| Headphones | Beats Pro | will.i.am |
| Beats Studio | Dr. Dre | |
| Beats Wireless | — | |
| Beats Mixr | David Guetta | |
| Beats Solo | — | |
| Beats Solo HD | — | |
| JustBeats | Justin Bieber | |
| Earphones | Beats Tour | — |
| PowerBeats | LeBron James | |
| Heartbeats | Lady Gaga | |
| Heartbeats 2.0 | ||
| Diddybeats | P. Diddy | |
| JustBeats | Justin Bieber | |
| iBeats | HTC Corporation | |
| Speakers | Beatbox | — |
| Beatbox Portable | — | |
| Others | Beats Audio | HTC Corporation Hewlett-Packard Chrysler |
References
- ^ a b c d Cliff Edwards (January 12, 2012). "Beats Electronics Is Breaking Up with Monster". Business Week. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
- ^ a b "After HTC Sale, Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine Gain Control of Beats Headphones". Media Decoder. The New York Times. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
- ^ a b Sandoval, Greg. "HTC to acquire majority stake in Dr. Dre's Beats". CNET. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ "HTC unit Beats close to buying music service MOG". Reuters. Retrieved 3/20/2012.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "Beats Electronics acquires MOG music service". TechnologyLive. USA Today. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
- ^ "Beats Electronics Acquires Mog Rapper Dr. Dre's headphone makers scoop up digital streaming service". Adweek. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
- ^ Evans, Joel. "Review: Beats by Dr. Dre headphones". Geek.com. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
- ^ "HP Envy 14: Plenty of Power in a Stylish Package". PC World. Retrieved 3/20/2012.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "Meet The Boss Behind Chrysler's Image Makeover; He Is French". Forbes. Retrieved 3/20/2012.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Amar Toor (September 14, 2011). "HTC Sensation XE gets official, packing 1.5GHz dual-core CPU and Beats Audio". Engadget. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
- ^ Segan, Sascha (February 26, 2012). "Hands On With the HTC One X, S, and One V". Ziff Davis Inc. Retrieved February 26, 2012.