Apple's next NeXT: how buying Beats launched a sneak attack on the future of sound

When Apple announced it was acquiring Beats in 2014, lots of critics scoffed and some even suggested the purchase was evidence that Tim Cook was just grasping at straws, with a good measure of racist-tinged denigration of the value of LA-based music firm on the side. Why was the most valuable, competent and profitable tech company on earth prepared to spend $3 billion– by far the most it had ever paid in an acquisition– to get Beats?
Source: macinsider