
Looks by Dr. Dre - _pius
http://www.subtraction.com/2014/07/09/looks-by-dr-dre/
======
paulgerhardt
As nerd-ragey as some people are about the Beats deal, they have some amazing
fit and finish with regards to manufacturing. See for instance their paint:
most painted plastics experience an undesirable amount of "orange peeling"
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_peel_(effect)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_peel_\(effect\))).

This is caused in part by not getting the temperature of the paint high enough
to form a smooth finish. Metal can withstand significantly higher temperatures
than plastic. This is usually why car paints look so much better than
Krylon's.

By over-molding their plastic tops around a metal base, Beats was able to
increase the tolerable temperature range. Next time you roll into a Best Buy,
compare the 'shinyness' and 'smoothness' of the overmolded Beats to any other
plastic product made by Samsung, HP, or Sony.

We learnt this through Chinese manufacturing forums where if anything, the
idea of 'target demographic' does not apply - Beats simply figured out how to
put a nicer finish on their product than the competition using innovative
manufacturing techniques and increase margin.

~~~
andrenotgiant
That's really interesting, I love learning about these manufacturing hurdles
that consumers never hear about.

Consumers don't buy Beats because they're shinier though. They buy them
because of the image that comes with them, thanks to a successful marketing
and endorsement campaign.

That's why knock-off beats are everywhere in Hong Kong. Manufacturers can add
a "b" to any old pair of over-ear headphones and they become much more
valuable. Consumers value the "b"

~~~
incision
_> 'Consumers don't buy Beats because they're shinier though. They buy them
because of the image that comes with them, thanks to a successful marketing
and endorsement campaign.'_

Sure, but exceptional shine is exactly the sort of hard to replicate detail
that maintains the brand value and sense of exclusivity they spent so much to
build in the first place.

If I ask one of our high school age interns how to spot bootleg Beats,
Jordans, fitted caps or whatever they'll run off a laundry list of incredible
detail - shine, screws, stitching or some tiny seam that isn't quite flush.

They obsess over these things and would probably sooner have nothing than run
the risk of being found guilty of the poverty / envy that wearing bootlegs
would imply to among their peers.

------
tptacek
The more closely you look at Beats, the more they make sense as a serious
asset to a consumer electronics company, and the less plausible the "Apple
just needed to get a streaming service off the ground" story is.

Two more angles to consider:

* Owning Beats puts Apple hardware on the heads of a huge fraction of every mobile user, whether they use iOS or not. Having a Beats brand affinity for those users makes it easier to introduce new products to them.

* Owning Beats gives Apple access to Beats sales channels; whatever retail real estate Beats has is now controlled by Apple.

~~~
InclinedPlane
My theory on confusion over the Beats purchase is that Apple fanboys have a
reluctance to admit that Apple is significantly a fashion company. Not the
beacon of technical excellence(asterisk) they set it up to be in their mind.

The reality is that Beats is also primarily a fashion company. Also with a
strong brand. Also with a product line that sells at a high markup. They go
together like pancakes and maple syrup. If Apple puts Beats headphones in
their stores they will sell just as much as they do now. Why wouldn't Apple
want a slice of that profit?

And if they make a next generation Beats headphone that can only be used with
Apple products? Well, that's even more money.

 _Edit: asterisk_ : which is not to say that Apple lacks technical excellence,
but the reason why they are so successful is not their engineering
credentials, it's because they are able to marry aesthetics and engineering.

~~~
tptacek
To the extent that you can say the exact same thing about Porsche, I agree;
just bear in mind that it takes more than a sense of style to execute on
"Porsche".

But also look how Apple integrates downmarket. To a first approximation
nobody's first car is a Porsche, but the less expensive iPhones are viable
first smartphones. There's something powerful about being able, at least in
theory, to address the whole market that way. Porsche probably can't change
the way everyone engages with cars, but Apple can do that with mobile.

~~~
jarek
I would suggest that it's more that an upmarket of mobile phones doesn't
really exist right now. Pretty much everyone has the same thing. Who's the
Porsche or the Rolls of mobile? To a first approximation, much of the first
world can afford a 5S if they really want one. Vertu? Heh.

~~~
pas
Yeah, but a Vertu is excessive, just as a Porsche. Normcore is the word. You
have to look just better than your peers, not everyone at once. So, even
though a lot of people couldn't affort a pricier phone than the 5S, even those
who can afford a Vertu stay on the 5S and spend on other accessories.

------
clay_to_n
There's this narrative that Apple's lack of design choice has helped them, by
keeping things consistent. White headphones were, for a while, almost
exclusively iPod earbuds. If you saw someone rocking a white headphone cable,
you knew what was in their pocket. They've branched out a little, with colors
for select devices, but for the most part their visual choices are very
limited.

Beats seems like they've done an excellent job of offering a wide selection
while still keeping brand consistency and recognizability. In this regard, I
think the article's speculation makes sense.

~~~
irremediable
This is a really interesting point. I admire how Beats have managed to
differentiate themselves so effectively.

------
jaynos
I find it hard to believe that apple couldn't make additional colors if they
wanted. I don't think it's a lack of technological know how. They could pick
that up without acquiring a entire additional company.

Limited colors on the iphone or ipod make sense. For the most part, it's an
item that stays in your pocket. I'm sure some people care about additional
design choices, but most people solve this by buying a case (which they'd do
anyway).

Beats, due to the fact that they are headphones, are worn as head gear. Yes,
they could have stuck with a few simple colors, but it's easier to justify
lots of options when people will actually see your user wearing the product.
This gives your user an incentive to want a more unique design and be willing
to pay for it.

~~~
bwy
I have to agree somewhat with this comment. In particular, is handling 60
SKU's really a huge problem with technology and management nowadays?

It's a pity there's so much focus on small details like that and the color
selection, because that's really not the main point, which the article does
touch on - the two companies understand and heavily influence the consumer
market and fashion, so the partnership makes sense. It's that simple.

By the way, Apple was the one who made the single-look product cool, with the
iPhone. It's so cool that its own colorful 5C isn't selling very well (by its
standards, of course) [1]. Restricting its color choices was _not_ only
because of the difficulty in doing so, it was a deliberate design choice.
[Edit, based on parent comment: And getting people to buy overpriced cases to
customize instead? Genius!]

1\. Google "iPhone 5C sales". Observe articles calling it, e.g., "Failure
Flop" and "dismal."

~~~
pling
Handling 60 SKUs of similar products is a big problem. Multi-variant stock
control and supply chain management is troublesome at best. If one of your
stores runs out of green widgets and another one only has red widgets until
Tuesday, how do you reliably sell red and green ones to customers who want one
without buying so much stock that you are then at risk of a loss when it is
end-of-lined?

Too late, the customer has gone to another widget stockist.

(I did a lot of work in supply chain management a few years back).

~~~
cma
When you have a 2000% profit margin on the product, you can just trash unused
stock.

------
moskie
It is so amazing to watch the attention that people give Apple's business
decisions. Seriously, how much their actions get read into is unparalleled.

Any other company, we'd just say "yup, they bought a headphone company, and
now they'll be selling some more/different headphones" and then we'd move on.
But with Apple, it just must, must represent some form of tidal shift.

~~~
k-mcgrady
Because unlike most other big tech companies Apple doesn't make big purchases
like this. They normally acquire small, unknown companies which are focussed
on a specific technology Apple needs (mapping for example).

~~~
nirvanatikku
@moskie - it is indeed amazing, and it's part of their engine that makes them
truly unique (that it has been this way for so long, and continues to be just
as talked about).

@k-mcgrady: true, but if you look at what percentage of their cash they spent
on it, it's not as significant as acquisitions from other, similarly sized
companies.. but your point remains: it is out of the ordinary for $aapl.

------
bjt
While I don't disagree with anything in the article, I think it, and most
commentators, are thinking too small.

When thinking about wearable computing, one big challenge is to take a small,
weird-shaped form factor, like sunglasses or watches, and cram enough computer
hardware in there to support all the features that people want.

Why not stick a computer in the headphones? Between the earmuffs and the
headband, there's a lot more room to stick a computer into a set of Beats than
there is in a wristwatch.

I can imagine being able to listen to the Beats music service using just the
Beats headphones, and not even needing to connect them to a computer.

~~~
dm2
A bluetooth connection to the phone would be a much better option in my
opinion.

~~~
zaroth
Not necessarily BT, but I totally agree with the premise. There's a limit to
the number of CPUs, SSDs, and OSs a person wants to carry and manage. By all
means, carry displays and HIDs of all sorts and sizes, but please drive them
all from my "phone".

I think this concept carries all the way to "laptops" which are nothing more
than a few ounces of battery, screen, keyboard, trackpad and a radio. Just a
few more generations till Apple can "do it right" and they'll deploy the tech.

I guess the only "problem" is such a laptop wouldn't become obsolete fast
enough...

------
ChikkaChiChi
I started travelling a lot and I wanted a bluetooth pair of headphones that
had active noise cancelling. Beats was the only option that ticked off all of
my needs and didn't blow out the second I tried pumping even minor amounts of
bass through them (I'm looking at you, Bose). I was able to even get them in
matte black so they are less gaudy.

They aren't for everyone...but most of us age 70 and under would dig the sound
quality on them.

------
jpalomaki
This article has a good point, which I never had thought.

Headphones are also a fashion accessory. They are very visible, the most
visible piece of technology you are carrying.

Same thing goes with watches. For many people its about brand and fashion, not
so much about the features.

Maybe Apple wants to be in the fashion business. If you have watches and
headphones, you pretty much cover all the technology people are currently
wearing. And it makes very much sense to have both products inside the same
company so that you can provide matching pairs.

If the pricing is reasonable, you could even imagine selling multiple sets of
products for same customers. This headphone/watch pair for jogging, another
one for your business look.

Also the Apple Store chain would fit in the picture quite nicely. One problem
could be that Apple is getting lots of people to the stores, but they
currently have a limited range of products to sell for them. You don't need
that many iPhones or Macs, iPads are a little bit expensive for impulse
purchase.

------
drzaiusapelord
In the end, who knows why they bought them. I do wonder if Beats had design
and technological patents a company like Apple would rather buy than fight
over in court. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple just bought them so they could
sell a premium non-earbud headset with zero legal woes or fears of being
called a copycat. I mean Beats look like an Apple product from a bizaro world
where Steve Jobs wasn't there to say no to everything that wasn't ultra-
minimalistic. Everything else, like their design team, streaming customers,
and brand is just gravy.

Apple tries hard not to be a victim of the patent war they're always
reigniting. I find it hard to believe IP isn't involved in a very, very
significant way here.

------
programminggeek
Apple already has this figured out. Perhaps it's too easy to forget the iPod,
but the iPod, especially the mini, nano, and shuffle all have color as a key
part of the value proposition. Apple finally did that with the iPhone 5c.

The most clever thing Apple did was the 5c colors with the different colored
covers. Those haven't really taken off in a huge way, but I think that is in
part due to the buying cycle of phones.

Apple gets mass personalization in a big way. You can still get your devices
engraved by Apple I believe.

The only company that I've seen take a real swing at something similar is
Motorola with Moto X. Too bad Google sold them.

------
taigeair
I'm not clear why Beats are so popular actually. I find socially it sends the
wrong message for me, functionally not as great as Bose or BW, and a bit too
big + plastic for my taste.

~~~
prawn
Might be wrong for you or I, but it's a social signal for many other people.
Similar to how people wear t-shirts around with giant logos on them. It says
(partly) "I can afford to pay $60 for this t-shirt." Or "I am like you."

When Ralph Lauren introduced those Polo shirts with the 3-4" polo logo on them
rather than the usual 1" logo, I thought it was some kind of experiment.

------
Tycho
One thing about Beats is that they really are ridiculously popular. They are
consumer electronics items which are also fashion accessories. I don't think
there's really any other brand like that in the industry, at least not that I
can think of. Even Apple's products while stylish I'd hesitate to call them
fashion accessories.

Maybe they were worried primarily that Google would buy Beats and suddenly
hold more 'cool' appeal than Apple (particularly with youngsters).

------
xxcode
I have experience in getting high-end plastic boxes manufactured (some in US,
and increasingly in China because of price dynamics). Believe me, it is not a
big deal. The variations are all commodity - you may have to get different
molds made and finish made, but they will work will all different types of
plastics. The plastics are already colored when in the pellet form (i.e., you
dont paint on them) so colors variations are trivial to achieve.

~~~
durkie
contact info? we're looking to do packaging for an upcoming product of ours if
you'd have any interest in lending some advice. :)

------
bluthru
I think the author is missing something important: There is greater inventory
flexibility with headphone internals than iPhone internals.

Many different and very advanced technologies go into an iPhone. Most
recently, the new fingerprint scanner was holding back the 5s. Every wrong
assumption about color demand meant that an iPhone sale was delayed. (Assuming
that it was even the correct storage size.) It's a world apart from speakers.

------
flarg
I wonder if it's really about penetration into music videos. I remember iPods
being all over music videos for a few years back in the day (made my recently
purchased iPod go from geeky to cool overnight!) - but then they disappeared -
maybe because of Apple's battles with the music industry. Now it's Beats in
every music related video, PA, media asset; something Apple needs to tap back
in to, I guess.

------
dropbear
Not necessarily related to this article, but does anyone know how much money
the "Beats Audio" partnerships with things like HP laptops and HTC phones
bring in for the Beats brand? Seems like a good hedge in the laptop and
smartphone markets where Apple wins regardless of whether consumers buy
iPhones or competing devices that are "Powered by Beats" or whatever they call
it.

------
davars
Beats has a track record of producing consumer electronics that are accepted
as fashionable. The iPhone already blurs the line between tool and accessory
and it spends most of its time in a pocket or purse. A smart watch or head
mounted display is more visible and needs to overcome a nerdy bias to appeal
to the mass market.

------
tnash
Maybe Tim Cook can just start buying companies and wait for other people to
figure out what to do with them. It's certainly interesting to see how many
people think that Apple is infallible. They make mistakes just like any other
company.

------
acangiano
This is an interesting take but I strongly doubt it's what motivated Apple to
make the purchase.

------
nrzuk
This article lost me at the part suggesting that Dre Beats are premium
headphones. Having listened to a few different sets of these "cool" headphones
I can personally think they are overpriced crap, don't think they are worth
more than £20-30 tops simply based on audio quality. People are simply buying
them as a fashion item!

~~~
jlarocco
> People are simply buying them as a fashion item!

So... you're saying it's a great match for Apple?

~~~
nrzuk
As a bit of a Apple fan boy I think it's a terrible match. The quality of all
the Apple products I have owned have been brilliant (even if my iPhone screen
smashed within a month). I personally hope the acquisition of this brand
doesn't result in the gimmicky promotions like on the HP laptop brands etc

------
fmitchell0
as a 'backend' dev who is constantly working on their design language
education, it's further proof that design is everything.

------
pessimizer
The beats acquisition is just Apple shedding the idea that it's a technology
company, and adding more prole-luxury fashion items to its lineup. Apple +
Nike merger anyone?

------
kadjar
Or... maybe the reason behind the acquisition has more to do with Beats'
subscription streaming service than hardware.

