Source: http://gizmodo.com/why-isnt-the-guy-who-...

Why isn't this acclaimed designer part of the package? Iovine and Dre are definitely going to join Apple full-time (with the official titles "Jimmy" and "Dre"), spending as much time as possible in Cupertino. The fact that Brunner—whom it could be argued is just as critical to the operation as Iovine and Dre—is not part of the equation raises some questions. It could be saying something about the way that Apple itself sees the sale. Or it could be bad blood between Brunner and his former employer.

First, let's look at the acquisition itself. It's Apple's most expensive of all time, and most high-profile hardware takeover. Would it surprise you that Jony Ive would want complete design control over a new product line that it's bringing onboard? Not at all. This could very well be Apple's mandate: Bring all the design in-house and tell the designer to "step down."

But the move could also highlight the fact that Apple is far more interested in the Beats Music part of the deal than Beats Electronics. Apple's plan isn't about making better audio devices, it's about consuming a real industry threat: a rising iTunes competitor. The sale is likely more about the streaming service—and Iovine and Dre's music industry prowess—than it is in the actual headphone technology itself. Brunner isn't essential to the Music side of the business.

But there's also some history here between Brunner and Apple—quite a bit of it. Brunner was the one who originally founded Apple's industrial design department in 1989. He was the person who hired a young Jonathan Ive, whose minimalist style would eventually come to define the brand. In this excellent oral history of Apple published by Fast Company, Brunner pokes at the fact that Ive's fame eventually eclipsed his own: "I sometimes joke that when I die, my tombstone will say, 'Here lies the guy who hired Jonathan Ive.'"