Anyone seen this yet?

http://www.cisionwire.com/bang---olufsen-holding-a-s-g/r/bang---olufsen-plans-new-product-category-and-expands-the-distribution,e234326

"The new category is expected to consist of stand-alone, single-room, easy-to-install
products and take advantage of Bang & Olufsen's core competences within design,
sound, connectivity and user friendliness - applying Bang & Olufsen's approach to quality. "

Well, I guess BeoSound 8 Encore could be on the way..

Very very exciting news!

Paul Winn:

Very very exciting news!

Indeed! 

I´m sure the Encore will be part of this. I guess the sales success of the Beosound 8 is one driver behind this initiative.

Yes totally agree Hiort!

I see you have a BeoVision 10 (MY FAVOURITE!!!) BL8000 & BL3  WOW a man with style!

Paul Winn:

Yes totally agree Hiort!

I see you have a BeoVision 10 (MY FAVOURITE!!!) BL8000 & BL3  WOW a man with style!

Thanks Paul :-)

You can see my setup here: 

http://forum.beoworld.org/forums/p/32101/325075.aspx#325075

The Encore is a connected product. It is the first to have the new Beonet system.

In my opinion expanding is the magic word for Stuer. Today sales are already marketed and distributed through other channels, the headphones A8 and BeoSound 8 are available in webshops etc!

See here: http://store.apple.com/us/product/H5048LL/A?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY

This is good and bad news. Good that new products are on focus and getting B&O products more promoted to a wider audience!

Bad for the today struggling Bang & Olufsen dealer. (.....a webshop store for every Bang & Olufsen dealer?)

From the press release:
The products under the new category will be marketed through existing Bang & Olufsen retailers as well as complementary channels, which will showcase the
products to a wide and relevant audience.



Regards, Robert

Sounds like a new 'entry level' television there! Priced around £2500?

Robert,

It sounded like the widening of the demographic will only be done through this new set of entry level products. Once they've got the customer, that customer will have to seek out a dealer for the larger more serious items. I don't think anyone but B&O will be selling say Lab 5s To me, it sounds like they are going after the young ones.

And as far as the web sites go - most dealers already have their own space on B&O's corporate domain. I am sure they could expand this to include an estore.

These days no-one would do this, opening a million e-stores I mean. Have one. Apple Store shelf is perfect for them to distribute. Question is how many beosound 8 type of product can they produce?

Also note, that thing is already obsolete, their competition is already adding airplay and other things to their line up. That needs to happen swiftly. It seems to be working better then Airport Express was, at least for me so far.

I think B&O fixed the TV range that was missing the entry level, I think next should be Music. They need to get into bed with Itunes over short or long. That may not be the best digital music solution but the most common one.

I clicked on the link and read the announcement, and to me it doesn’t really say anything. If looks like a short bit of corporate nonsense about marketing direction, but not a real word about products.

I think these could be very exciting times for B&O and the certainty of its' future with a NEW type of customer. A young, affluent on the move (hence Apple) customer who could very possibly be loyal 'big' B&O customers in 10+ years time.

I'm sure the BS8 will have Airplay soon if it is that good! With 25000 sold in six months, there is definately a market for cool little Ipod sound docks :)

I would like to see a nicely designed, reasonable priced 32" television too please! Im really not bothered about BeoLink etc.  I love the electric curtains on the TVs though. I was so gutted when my BV6 didn't have those!

Hi Guys,

The video is on the B&O website re: new products. It looks like these will also be sold in Apple stores and 'upmarket' department stores. Headphones, computer speakers are amongst those mentioned.

Sometimes it surprises me where you find B&O for sale.  Like here.   Sears is owned by the same company that owns K-Mart.

But if you ask any Sears employee where to find the Bang & Olufsen aisle, they will say "Bang & what?"

More information:

http://www.bang-olufsen.de/beonews/New_product_category.wmv

Excellent video with some interesting notes:

1. Attempting to bring out new products on a quarterly or monthly basis.
2. The alluring mention of 3^rd party compatibility. (Apple?)
3. New category attempt to a capture interest in the B&O brand and then drive them to the B1 stores.

But here is where they are missing the point: the new category is described as having products that are all stand alone products outside of the normal connectivity/integration with the B&O core products. It would be so much better if the new category would integrate to the core products as this would allow the new products to be a platform for growth rather than a dead end. A B1 store telling a consumer that his product is not compatible with other equipment is going to create a real problem in attempting to get the consumer to accept the additional purchase of B&O products.

They need to stick to Apple like a limpet. The massive success of the BS8 should be proof enough of that to the ceo and board.

Yesterday's announcement bu Apple that they are just completeing streaming agreements with the 4 big Music/media companies, (including Universal - who  has NOT agreed previously to Itunes distribution), should send a clear signal...once and for all, that B&O better wake up, smell the coffe, and prioritze Apple compatibility...not Windows/MS

Barry

TOTALLY agree with Flappo and Bsantini.   It's the way of the music industry now and for the foreseeable future!

I've got a lot of faith in that CEO! Having BS8 in Apple stores is THE way to get the brand over to the young.  No matter which city you are in, those Apple stores are crammed packed with youngsters 30, 40, 50 at a time!!! They are spending a fortune on BEATS headphones, when they see the BS8, they are so going to put that on top of their Christmas wish list!!!

Stand alone products is nothing new for Bang & Olufsen! At the end of the last century Bang & Olufsen introduced a stand-alone product to attract new costumers to the brand. It even had a different remote! Very soon after the introduction BeoVision 1 was updated with ML due to demand from the market, and it was not stand-alone anymore. Even the different remote disappeared. So it's not a new product category at all, it is more than 10 years old!

This is exactlly my point! Bring these introduction products to market, but make sure they work with the core products. Make sure that the ML is in the new products and the public will not only have the option to expand, they will have the desire to find out what this ML can do for them.

BeoVision 1 was very weird and showed bad planning by B&O at the time as when BV1 was launched, the rest of the world was buying widescreen televisions! It was crazy and I never understood that model. I'm sure though, it would have looked beautiful as a widescreen television!

I'm not 100% sure if B&O need to stick to Apple like a limpet.  It's B&O, not Apple.  If i wanted an Apple product, i'd buy apple (which I do).  I am thankful for integration in B&O products, but Apple also need to come to the party too.

Apple doesn't support DLNA and would be wise to do so.  It would be nice to have my content on my time capsule accessible anywhere like a regular NAS; and it's not, because it's Apple.

But back on the bandwagon, I think Stand Alone solutions are also good.  I think that Tue isn't solely speaking about the BS8 meaning standalone, could this be also telephones, headphones, etc.  

I hope it's a successful move for the company, bring on the new categories and hightened web presence.  And just on that, is 25000 units really considered a sales success?