Apple didn’t make much mention of its $3 billion Beats acquisition at WWDC yesterday, but it didn’t really have to. Since the news broke in early May, the storyline has pretty much dominated much of the tech-related news cycle.
And it seems to be having a positive impact on Apple’s image. According to a new survey by education technology company Chegg, which involved the polling of 10,000 students, the acquisition will make the iPad-maker more ‘cool.’
Here’s a breakdown of the numbers: 60% of them were aware that Beats had a music service, but only 3% of them were subscribers. 60% were aware of the buyout, and 50% said it will make Apple more popular among younger users.
Recode has more from the report:
This is largely good, albeit unsurprising, news for Apple, which has long dominated the college market. In most college lecture halls across the country, you’ll see rows and rows of MacBooks — many of which were purchased using Apple’s educational discount or in Apple-affiliated campus stores. Still, more and more young people are streaming music using services other than iTunes. Spotify has more than 40 million subscribers, and 40 percent of its American users are between the ages of 18 and 24.
Apple confirmed the Beats deal last week, saying that co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre would be joining the company. The team will be reporting to SVP of services Eddy Cue on the software side and SVP of marketing Phil Schiller for hardware.
In a memo sent out to Apple employees on the acquisition, Tim Cook said that “Beats Electronics has become the brand of choice for headphones and speakers in both the music and sports world, just five years after its launch.” Cool indeed.