Apple purchased the Beats Electronic brand of audio haberdashery for a staggering $3 billion, the largest acquisition in the company’s history. Beats not only includes the mainstream headphone gear but also a music service simply called, Beats Music. This service will soon be offered on Southwest Airline, free of charge.
The songs will be stored on a server inside the plane, therefore diminishing the need to stream the service via broadband. With 3000 songs available to drown your fear of flying with 20 million more if you decide to subscribe. Southwest does not have the usual back of seat screens, but do offer their free entertainment portal via any internet/wifi ready device. This is another example of how the converging technology is the next step in our effort to make work and entertainment more convenient.
Through the years there have been many examples of convergences where we are able to do multitude of tasks in one place, from the mobile phone that became a camera as well to the Smart TV that also allows internet browsing as well. This type of shift in bring everything together has played havoc of a products lifecycle. A fine example is the discontinuation of the iPod for obvious reasons. Even software has gone through this progression, like Instant Messengers that can now make video and voice calls.
What next, I certainly hope it involves dispensing coffee at the same time I make a call.