Hasta La Gadget!

Whether you like the company or not, people are snapping up Beats Electronics’ wares left and right. It’s no surprise then that Beats is looking to branch out into some new frontiers, and it may not want to do it without getting rid of some old baggage first. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Beats is considering buying out Taiwanese gadget maker HTC’s remaining stake in the company and is also trying to lock down a new investor to help fund its expansion into consumer electronics and auto tech.

At this point, there’s no word on how much such a deal would cost, or if HTC is even willing to sell. To really get a feel for the situation though, we need to do a little rewinding.

This whole sordid situation started back in August 2011 when HTC revealed that it acquired a majority stake (about 50.1%, to be specific) in Beats Audio, a deal that cost the Taiwanese company just north of $300 million. It wasn’t long until the first Beats Audio-powered smartphones started rolling off of HTC’s production lines, and since then just about every one of the company’s notable smartphones bore that familiar red logo somewhere on its body.

Of course, that relationship wasn’t without its rough patches. Between the moment HTC finalized its deal with Beats Audio and today, the company has been absolutely battered — sales revenue is down, profits are down, and more than a few pundits have already written the company off (or are close to doing it). The situation grew so grim that HTC found itself selling nearly half of its stake back to Beats Audio in mid-2012, which reportedly resulted in a net loss of about $4.8 million for the Taiwanese gadget maker.

What’s still unclear at this point is what this turn of events could mean for Beats Audio in smartphones going forward. If Beats indeed buys out HTC’s stake, it’s not inconceivable that other smartphone manufacturers could swoop in and license whatever Beats Audio assets the company originally made available to HTC. And for all we know, HTC may be one of them — it could just decide to fold Beats Audio into its phones like nothing ever happened, albeit without most favored nation status. It’s near-impossible to make a call there without a closer understanding of the agreement the two companies forged, but I wouldn’t expect the Beats Audio brand to remain dormant in the mobile space for very long (if at all).

But Beats’ bid for another investor comes at a pretty peculiar time. There’s little doubt that HTC wanted to lock up a partnership with Beats because of the marketing clout the brand would bring its mobile gadgets, and now Beats is looking for a way out just as HTC is trying to tap into another vein of star power to revitalizing its anemic marketing efforts. For better or worse, the company is spending nearly a billion dollars on a massive marketing push that will apparently see Hollywood hotshot Robert Downey Jr. spout nonsensical interpretations of the company’s name. I may be veering slightly into the realm of the hyperbolic, but HTC really can’t afford for this kooky new approach not to work. Couple that with the fact that a Beats buyback would be yet another sizable signifier of lost faith in HTC and things are starting to look seriously dire.

I’ve reached out to HTC for a comment on all this, but it’s pretty late and the company hasn’t yet responded at time of writing — I’ll update the post with a response if/when I get one.

Beats Electronics has rolled out the carpet for its next-generation Beats Studio headphones, announcing that they will be available for purchase in August with a price tag of $299 USD. With the latest version comes a promise of improvements across quality and design, as well as a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery, something the original lacked.

As far as design goes, there are three options featured in the image above. The latest generation of Beats Studio uses a lighter material than the original version, and is designed to be both stronger and more flexible. The headphones feature no straight lines, and none of the screws are visible. Likewise, the ear cups can be adjusted to fit the wearer via an “ergonomic adjustment mechanism,” a change over the last version.

The headphones utilize adaptive noise cancellation, more commonly called ANC, which includes two modes: a music mode, and an increased noise cancellation mode that results from unplugging the cable. In the former mode, Beats Electronics says the combination between noise cancellation and music is balanced, with the materials used in the construction aiding the process.

Beats Acoustic Engine – a digital tuning software – is used to tune to Beats Studio headphones for proper sound quality, while manually swapping batteries is a thing of the past with the integrated rechargeable battery. Use time comes in around the 20 hour mark on a charge, which is achieved using either a USB cable or a standard outlet. There’s a built-in charge indicator in the form of 5 LEDs, as well as automatic shutdowns to help conserve the battery.

Said Jimmy Iovine, “With the original Studio headphone we set out to prove that people all around the world care enough about sound to invest in it – and we did. Now we are taking it a step further.The new Studio is tuned with balance, accuracy and emotion, has a breathtaking design and truly innovative technology. This is the sound of the future.”

SOURCE: PR Newswire

Beats Studio next generation headphones slated for launch in August is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

According to sources said to be familiar with the situation, Apple‘s Tim Cook and Eddy Cue met up with Jimmy Iovine, the CEO of Dr. Dre’s Beats. The trio are reported to have talked about Beats’ planned music service codenamed Project Daisy, something it says is in reference to the first digital song. The talks weren’t about any sort of deal, however, instead spanning a wide range of topics about the service in general.

Says the sources, the meeting took place last month in Los Angeles, with Cook being interested in learning more about Project Daisy. The Chief Executive, along with Apple’s Internet products head Cue, talked with Iovine about Daisy’s business model and how the service will be rolled out to consumers.

Project Daisy was announced back in January, but little is known about it in terms of details. This rumored conversation has taken place after reports that Apple is looking into starting its own music streaming service to complement iTunes, something that will put it in competition with the likes of Spotify and similar services.

Back on February 22, we reported that Google is allegedly looking into launching its own streaming service to complement its vast music offerings via Google Play. The information cropped up over at the Financial Times, which reports that the service will offer both free and subscription options, with free playback being ad-supported.

[via Reuters]

Apple reportedly in talks with Beats over music streaming service is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the folks at Beats Electronics have announced Ian Rogers as CEO of a brand new stand-along music service-based company that’ll operate under the Beats Electronics umbrella. This move has the Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine founded company pushing forward with this separate sect that’ll be joined by music industry veterans Luke Wood and Trent Reznor as well as music company Topspin. Breaking this all down into its simplest terms: there’s about to be a new Beats-related music entity in the market that sells digital music.

If the world is ready for another music sale service, this may very well be it – the Beats group have invested in Topspin, a group that makes music sales possible for the artists themselves. Artists use Topspin to sell music from their own website as well as through a variety of social media networks, making it a slightly more “universal” model for those who want to purchase music. Though not a whole lot of details have been revealed at the moment (as evidenced by the name “Project”), it could be a winner with such name-ties as Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails fame).

As Iovine notes, “what’s missing from the digital music landscape is a cultural context. We need to bring an emotional connection back to the act of music discovery. With Trent and now Ian we have the right team in place to do it.” Trent Reznor has been known for making his own music available in a variety of unique ways, being very vocally dissatisfied with the connections available to him as a giant artist to the fans of his music.

Here with Project Daisy and the additional brand recognition power of the entity known as Beats, a change may be made. As Rogers notes, “this is the opportunity I’ve been working toward my entire career.” Stick around here at SlashGear for more details as they flow inward – what do you think this team of music magicians will be able to accomplish? We shall see!

Beats Project Daisy pulls off as stand-alone music service is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Welcome to Tuesday evening everyone. Today was a pretty big day as far as news goes, with Apple sending out invites to an upcoming event, which is where we’re assuming the company will announce the iPad Mini. Not one to be outdone, Microsoft finally gave us some substantial details on Surface today (including information on pre-orders), and Samsung was right there to put its line up of new Windows 8 PCs and tablets up for pre-order as well.

We heard that there could be as many as 24 different iPad Mini models when Apple finally gets around to revealing the device, and we got to see the insides of the new iPod Nano thanks a teardown from iFixit. Excited for the Padfone 2? If you are, you’ll be pleased to know that its tablet dock can stand up to some abuse. We found out that Intel’s Q3 profits were negatively influenced by slowing demand for PCs, and heard that the average screen size is on the rise for all types of devices except for “mobile PCs.”

A mysterious Texas Instruments-made chip was found lurking inside Apple’s Lightning cable today, and Verizon is catching some heat for monitoring user activity. PlayMG revealed a dedicated Android gaming device called the MG, and AVADirect put a number of Windows 8 PCs up for pre-order today. We heard that T-Mobile might be getting the iPhone 5 early next year, and were told that LTE customers in the US pay 10 times more than LTE customers in Sweden. If you’re a hardcore gamer, you might be pleased to find out that the rechargeable battery in the Wii U Pro controller could potentially last up to 80 hours on a single charge, and you also might want to check out this snazzy Black Ops II launch trailer.

Bethesda might be working on a new piece of Skyrim DLC called Dragonborn, and controversial company Foxconn admitted to hiring underage workers today. The Xbox 360 was given a new dashboard update, Beats Audio unveiled a new portable speaker that has been aptly named “The Pill,” and Boxee announced a new service called Boxee TV. Finally tonight, we have a review of the LG Optimus G and the Motorola DROID RAZR HD, both by Chris Burns, and Vincent Nguyen talks with Microsoft to get the inside scoop on what makes the Surface such a game-changer. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: October 16, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.