According to a poll created by the popular Mac news website Mac Daily News, less than one in 20 users of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) think that Dr. Dre, also known as the rapper Andre Young, was the most valuable asset the Cupertino electronics company gained through its recent acquisition of Beats. Though Dr. Dre managed to ink a $3 billion deal for his headphone and streaming music service despite his Heineken fueled faux pas of the past weeks, most users rank Jimmy Iovine far above him as an asset to Apple.
The poll indicated most people – 56% – thought that Mr. Iovine was the most valuable asset gained along with Beats. Though exuding a certain amount of flashiness that jars against the sleek restraint of Apple’s carefully developed aesthetic, as pioneered by Jony Ive, Mr. Iovine has a tremendous number of extremely valuable connections in the music industry. Reports state that he also has a keen eye for profitable trends and was possibly responsible for the development of the Beats headphone line also.
The next most valuable part of the deal, attracting 31% of the poll participants’ votes, is the Beats Music online streaming music subscription service. This service is largely untested and represents Mr. Iovine’s latest gamble on the future of music delivery to consumers. Hardly set to oust iTunes or Spotify at this point, Beats Music claims subscription rolls of approximately 200,000 people all told. This, of course, is 1/50th the amount Spotify holds. Apple appears to trust Mr. Iovine’s intuition, however, to the tune of $3 billion.
The third choice is Beats Electronics’ headphones, the hardware end of the business, which 9% of participants voted for. The headphones are already positioned in the high-end market sector in which Apple (AAPL) is most comfortable, selling headphones for up to $450 per pair. Six out of 10 headphones sold in the United States are sold by this company, putting it in a commanding commercial position at the hardware end.
Dead last in poll popularity is Dr. Dre himself, capturing just 4% of the vote as the most valuable asset. Apple is clearly playing up the value of Mr. Young, to the point of having him make important statements at the 2014 WWDC. However, it is difficult to dispute the poll’s conclusion, since the rapper has offered little thus far except a few celebrity photo ops, which is hardly sufficient justification for a $3 billion purchase price to be paid.
