If rumours are right, Apple is about to acquire Beats, the company behind the famous Dr. Dre headphones. The deal would amount to $3.2B, which represents the largest acquisition Apple ever made.
Beats, which has around 300 employees and $300 million (2011) in revenue is famous for:
I can see this deal as an easy way for Apple to also acquire a considerable amount of records label streaming rights. In fact, despite its initial publicity, is still unavailable outside the US and Australia. Around the world, people consume music through Spotify, Pandora etc.
Renting things you use – rather than buying them – including music, is the new thing in 2014. Apple is definitely aiming at getting into that business too. If in the process they also manage to get a valuable hardware business, then they could kill two birds with one stone.