Update: The Wall Street Journal has reported that Ian Rogers will be leading iTunes Radio following the completion of Apple’s acquisition.
It’s official: Beats is now all Apple’s. The companies confirmed the $3 billion acquisition in two separate posts earlier this morning. The deal was approved by the European Union earlier this week.
Apple writes that it is “excited to officially welcome Beats Music and Beats Electronics to the Apple family. Music has always held a special place in our hearts, and we’re thrilled to join forces with a group of people who love it as much as we do.” The post goes on to mention the “beauty” of Beats products and their excitement to work “with the team.”
(Though not all of the team — as confirmed by Billboard yesterday, many staffers at Beats with positions redundant to Apple operations, including the human resources, legal and financial departments, have a set end date to their time at 1 Infinite Loop.)
For its part, Beats wrote of Apple’s iPod, iPhone and iPad products, saying that “we… are fortunate to add our instrument to this legacy by joining Apple. The products we build together will allow us to reimagine sound once again.”
Beats also notified customers that all sales (and complaints or questions) will now be routed through the Apple Online Store.
For the Beats Electronics, demonstrations of the future of headphones abound, featuring technological advancements that Apple will almost certainly be keeping an eye on.
For Beats Music, the music streaming space is crowded and getting more so, with the imminent launch of Google/YouTube’s as-yet-unnamed streaming service, as well as Deezer’s rumored jump stateside expected this year.
