I think when you look at what Apple got for their $3 billion — a streaming music business, the most popular and profitable headphone company, and a handful of beloved and respected music industry icons — I think Apple got exactly what it wanted. I’m not sure what else you think they were expecting. Apple Music is the 2nd most popular music streaming service that is already profitable, has better relationships with artists, and has few of the headaches Spotify is contending with. I agree that Beats headphones don’t have industry-leading flat/neutral sound quality, but that is because of their conscious choice to go with a more bass-heavy sound signature preferred by younger people and fans of hip hop and electronic music, and it’s been wildly popular. Apple didn’t buy Beats for their headphone business or technology — it just happens to be an added perk that throws off high profits and also gives Apple a place to push their own headphone technology (like the H1 and W1 chips) down to. Also, Apple has had enough cash that they could’ve bought Beats and Netflix several times over at the same time. Apple TV+ isn’t trying to be Netflix, nor do I think Apple wants to be managing a business as big as Netflix. Apple TV+ is much more like Amazon Prime Video, which is just a value-add to Prime, though Apple is taking a more HBO-style approach to it by focusing on a small number of prestige TV shows. ATV+ is a value-add to the Apple One services bundle, which is anchored by Apple Music.