Apple's Beats deal about video content not just music, believes Steve Jobs' biographer

As Apple’s Beats acquisition looks more and more certain, there is a lot of speculation about what Apple could do with Beats. **We had our own ideas when the news first broke out** and since then there’s been a lot of theorising on what Apple would end up doing.   One such theory comes from Walter Isaacson, the noted writer who penned the bestselling Steve Jobs biography. Speaking to Billboard Biz, Isaacson said that Apple’s Beats acquisition is **not just about music and streaming** . He believes **Apple is buying Beats** and by extension Jimmy Iovine’s services to smooth out deals with video content providers such as networks and channels, which will help Apple in its big TV play later this year.   The report talks about Iovine’s close ties with Apple and how he helped Jobs clinch some crucial deals in the run up to the iTunes Store launch. At the time Iovine had been pushing Apple to buy Universal, one of the biggest entertainment companies in the world, according to Isaacson, who had noted this down during his book interviews but didn’t include it in the final edition. According to Billboard, “He (Isaacson) speculates that  (Tim) Cook wants Iovine to run Apple’s content business and help Apple launch the TV product that analysts have been gossiping about for years. The product has been held up because Apple can’t get all the content owners on board.”   Now that’s an interesting take, but it’s still all very much in the realm of rumour. Other speculation says that Apple will reveal Iovine and Beats co-founder Dr Dre’s roles within the company at the annual WWDC event in early June. So we won’t have to wait too long to find out.