The $3 billion dollar deal between Android’s largest competitor Apple, and Beats for the ownership of the companies headphones and streaming music service is getting some mixed feelings from fans and consumers. More importantly than the decision to buy up Beats though is Apple’s decision to keep the Beats streaming music service and app combination widely open and available to users on the Android platform. Beats headphones were already expensive for what you got, we understand that, and there’s a running joke making its rounds that now Apple owned Beats prices will skyrocket ten fold. It’s funny, but you can only poke fun with the same underlying joke so many times. What users should be shifting their focus to is the action that Apple has taken(or not taken depending on how you think about it)to allow Android users to continue enjoying the music streaming service they love.
Tim Cook says it’s all about the music, and Eddy Cue who is Apple’s VP of internet software and services agrees saying that Beats is here to stay for fans of the little green robot. “All about the music” though can really be broken down to a monetary interest, as Apple obviously sees a lucrative result from not cutting off the Android platform from continuing to access the Beats service. More than that, Apple might be starting to realize that they stand much more to gain by playing nice with Android and attempting to cater to its users as well as their own, instead of trying to drive the entire platform into the ground and out of existence. If there is money to be made with Android in the music space, then why shouldn’t Apple take it? It’s not like they’re making loads of cash from their iTunes music service anymore like they used to.
Keeping the service running on Android means they can keep a watchful eye on users loyal to the competitor, with the end goal of learning whether or not more lucrative actions similar to this one could be made down the line. There were no specifics given, but when interviewed by Business Insider, Apple’s VP of Research and Data Sciences told them that this move could be looked at “as a great way to do an experiment and see if there’s business to be made from Android users.” Beats may be the last Apple owned service Android users will ever get to lay their fingers on, but there could be a future where Apple apps and services live in harmony on Android devices, if things pan out for Apple in a financially positive way from the Beats decision.