Apple is reportedly in late stage negotiations to pay $3.2 billion for Beats, the music company behind the giant headphones that are popular with the kids.
Why is Apple buying Beats? We have no clue.
Seriously, we wish we could explain how this is a brilliant move, and it's a perfect tuck in for Apple, but we're stumped.
After months of people hammering Apple for doing nothing with its cash, it's finally ready to make a big acquisition, and it's baffling.
You could argue that Beats makes wildly popular headphones, and Apple, as a hardware company wanted to own Beats. But, Beats are consistently panned by critics. They are never rated as one of the best headphones.
Apple's guiding mission is to make the best products in the world. And no one thinks Beats headphones are the best in the world.
You could argue that Apple is buying Beats for its recently introduced streaming service.
But, if Apple was after a streaming service, then it would have been better off buying Rdio or Spotify, the two companies that have the industry's best streaming services. Ellis Hamburger, one of the most positive people in the tech press, says that Beats streaming services is much worse than rivals like Rdio or Spotify.
Again, Apple's mission is to do the best products. Spotify is the best streaming service.