General Forum

Re: Why are B&O doing a Beo6?

elephant — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 22:20:54 GMT

TripEnglish:

elephant:

how did they communicate the vision with out products ?

It was actually very elaborate! They play acted "a day in the life of a B&O owner" with narration and a real stage. They included existing products, new products, and future products, but they spoke conceptually about how things fit together, how media moves from device to device, room to room, etc. and the expectations of the overall interface.

excellent !

something better than a powerpoint slide then ! something that required serious thinking - a good sign

I wish they would capture that in their virtual world show room ... but then some cheeky buggers would probably steal their ideas and then get the march on them

TripEnglish:
There are a few things that are better left out of the discussion at this point, but in the coming few years we are going to be rolling out the sort of eco-system that many here have been looking for. I don't know if I've mentioned it elsewhere, but one of the other dealers put it very concisely: "This is the first time in years that the products are actually as cool as they look."

I don't recall you saying that before ... a nice quote.

I said a week or so ago that we are at an inflection point in the industry that will require some tough calls by B&O seeing as their R&D budget is limited

I suspect both the fruit company and B&O use focus groups to seek to understand how people want to live ... but what if there are various camps/tribes of users ? I suspect there is a group that is comfortable with dealing with the idiosyncratic behaviour of technology (e.g. "look at a list of TV shows that are file names like 'The_Seven_Ages_of_Britain.s01e03.mkv") whereas others want a bookshelf of DVD covers than they can dip into. And perhaps there are other categories/classes of users.

I suspect B&O will strive for making it magical and intuitive with the underlying technology (the geekiness) invisible. At the same time I hope they embrace some degree of openness so that as much of our content can be consumed by the B&O ecosystem.

Re: Why are B&O doing a Beo6?

TripEnglish — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 21:26:32 GMT

elephant:

how did they communicate the vision with out products ?

It was actually very elaborate! They play acted "a day in the life of a B&O owner" with narration and a real stage. They included existing products, new products, and future products, but they spoke conceptually about how things fit together, how media moves from device to device, room to room, etc. and the expectations of the overall interface.

There are a few things that are better left out of the discussion at this point, but in the coming few years we are going to be rolling out the sort of eco-system that many here have been looking for. I don't know if I've mentioned it elsewhere, but one of the other dealers put it very concisely: "This is the first time in years that the products are actually as cool as they look."

Re: Why are B&O doing a Beo6?

elephant — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 18:13:12 GMT

TripEnglish:
This year B&O put forward a concise vision of what our brand should offer our clients in lifestyle terms as well as technological terms.

I am glad to hear that !

TripEnglish:
it will take some time for our solutions to be as well known and understood as BeoSound 9000s and BeoVision Avants

that is the challenge

how did they communicate the vision with out products ?

Re: Why are B&O doing a Beo6?

TripEnglish — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 16:04:56 GMT

BeoFab,

I appreciate your perspective. I agree that the Beo5 is the best programmable remote on the market both in capabilities and overall design. I appreciate that reasonable people can differ, especially on style which is as definitive as a universal favorite ice cream flavor, but it's tough to match the materials and elegance (the way it wakes up with your touch, etc.).

Re: Why are B&O doing a Beo6?

BeoFab — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 15:43:54 GMT

Well,

I just had my Beovision 10 installed and my Beo5 programmed by the installer. It took them a little more than one hour in program it to my specifications, very customized with logos, even lutron radiora 2 and 3rd party products. I didn't know what to expect but after a couple of days of use it I really like the beo 5 very much (except that is a finger prints magnet).

I have a friend who bought a Logitech (the higher end model) a month ago and it just look like a cheap toy not to mention that he is still trying to make everything work as he want.

I mean, do we really know what we have here with B&O?. This guys are pioneers. The stainless steel with very high quality black plastic that is so in vogue was implemented (or invented) by B&O many years ago, along with the touch screen, bottonless interface, non boxy loudspeakers, whell control (ala ipod), etc.

Some of the most beautiful and well designed A/V products in the world are B&O. Just to name a few in the current line: beotime, beocom 5, beosound 9000, beosound 5, beolabs (all of them), beocenter 2 (perfect if it had hdmi and bluray), beo 4 and 5, beovision (all of them). There is simply NOTHING similar out there for any price.

Re: Why are B&O doing a Beo6?

TripEnglish — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 15:25:04 GMT

I think there is an aspect to your suggestion that is correct: i.e. luring talent in to work on software design. This is what all companies do and, while Struer isn't exactly a tropical paradise, it shouldn't be too hard to get a few people to stick around.

Re: Why are B&O doing a Beo6?

mawheele — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 14:43:07 GMT

Beofan2:

And to me! I´m Apple fan too but can´t see the point of comparing everything with Apple. Beo6 sounds like a nice product I will use with my BS5. I could use my Beo5, I find a nice product too, in my bedroom.

Thanks for commenting on the thread. I had not meant to compare Apple with B&O. The thread was arguing for B&O to develop software and a module that works with the more commonly used devices in our homes.

Whilst I agree with Trip that it would be 'smart' for B&O to own and develop a complete vertically integrated stack, they have been unable to prove in recent years their ability to develop capable small hardware (to the sophistication that HTC for example is able to.) And the software has been truly appalling.

The simple solution in my eyes would be for them to outsource the development to an Android and Apple developer, maybe buy-in some hardware from HTC or Samsung (like they did with the handsets) and then put it in a B&O case. Frankly the BS5/BM5 is no different - just the wrong technology choices.

But imagine a B&O remote with a 5" screen (like a Dell Streak) that was connected to the web as well as offering two-way support. It would finally be a remote worthy of the brand. Instead you've got Logitech offering remotes with little imagination, that offer greater integration, simplicity and functionality for 1/5th of the price. The Beo5 is a shocker.

Re: Why are B&O doing a Beo6?

TripEnglish — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 11:53:14 GMT

jk1002:

I think most of us are aware of the Beoliving strategy, I mean it is there for years.

I think for Europe there is quite a few customers that pick up B&O outside the "Beoliving" segment. I know this is not the market that you are catering to but overall I am sure it is big business.

I believe that for many of these customers the latest and greatest still doesn't matter that much. Obviously they are not vocal here. What matters is that the products work, simple without annoyance and this is where in my opinion B&O has lost track a little.

Make complex things simple.

While BeoLiving is part of it, it's not the full thrust of the idea going forward. I would say that the new products and the strategy they're part of allow for more advantages even when smaller systems or even single devices are purchased.

I think that most would agree that there's no such thing as an unconnected device these days, whether it be to other devices or to network services. What I saw coming down the pike embraces the connectedness of electronic devices instead of ignoring/shying away from it. So in some ways we're talking more microcosmic than a BeoLiving home with all its systems linked together. In a few other ways, we're talking much bigger (-;

Re: Why are B&O doing a Beo6?

BeoFab — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 11:06:32 GMT

TripEnglish:

It's an interesting interpretation because that was not the mood at the dealer conference. I think many were impressed (I certainly was) at how "vision based" the conference was. In the past, these meetings had tended to focus on individual products and filling gaps in the lineup. This year B&O put forward a concise vision of what our brand should offer our clients in lifestyle terms as well as technological terms.

I think that there are already solutions on the market that showcase where we're headed (the video matrix, the mlgw, etc), but it will take some time for our solutions to be as well known and understood as BeoSound 9000s and BeoVision Avants.

Very interesting analysis Trip, could you please elaborate a little more about it.

Thanks

Re: Why are B&O doing a Beo6?

jk1002 — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 10:11:39 GMT

I think most of us are aware of the Beoliving strategy, I mean it is there for years.

I think for Europe there is quite a few customers that pick up B&O outside the "Beoliving" segment. I know this is not the market that you are catering to but overall I am sure it is big business.

I believe that for many of these customers the latest and greatest still doesn't matter that much. Obviously they are not vocal here. What matters is that the products work, simple without annoyance and this is where in my opinion B&O has lost track a little.

Make complex things simple.

Re: Why are B&O doing a Beo6?

TripEnglish — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 09:16:15 GMT

It's an interesting interpretation because that was not the mood at the dealer conference. I think many were impressed (I certainly was) at how "vision based" the conference was. In the past, these meetings had tended to focus on individual products and filling gaps in the lineup. This year B&O put forward a concise vision of what our brand should offer our clients in lifestyle terms as well as technological terms.

I think that there are already solutions on the market that showcase where we're headed (the video matrix, the mlgw, etc), but it will take some time for our solutions to be as well known and understood as BeoSound 9000s and BeoVision Avants.

Re: Why are B&O doing a Beo6?

Dude1 — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 06:49:47 GMT

There is a lot of truth in what you are saying here. Hence, the change of management.

The biggest concern seems to be a lack of outright vision. I mean, they are now sort of waiting for technology to be in the market for about 3-4 years, then it's a 'yeah, that could be a good idea' type of mentality. Then someone finally fumbles around, finds the balls and goes for it. Usually it's then so old, people are imediately bored with it.

A wee while ago, the company used to produce fine technology - Avants / BC9000/9500, AV9000, you know, all the really iconic designs that captured people eye and imagination and people went WOW! Now it's the reverse, its a oh yeah, its pretty damn expensive type of scenario. Not even a wow, not even a muffled wow - BV8 (Nice telly, but a bit of a bore - yet if they dressed it up with some colour or something, it might actually be polarising to some degree - you know BV5 in orange scenario, but as wild as they get is white these days)

It seems Bang is run by accountants nowadays, boring old duffers that read numbers. They should work at Toyota.

Just my 5p. Bring back the team with the WOW! I want to buy stuff from them! Im sick to death of Apple - they should take a whopping great bite out of them.

Re: Why are B&O doing a Beo6?

soundproof — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 21:55:08 GMT

As you can see, even B&O itself follows your first corollary:

http://media2.worldcarfans.com/2005/7/medium/2050708.007.1M.jpg

As to the second one, it used to be that nothing could be compared to B&O, those were the days, eh?

Re: Why are B&O doing a Beo6?

dilznik — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 21:18:27 GMT

Why don't they just redo the Beo5 so that 1) it's a universal remote that works with all your B&O stuff and all your non-B&O stuff and 2) you can update it yourself? So basically a Logitech Harmony that doesn't look like a cheap plastic toy.

They'd sell like hotcakes.

BenSA:

Gosh are even B&O remotes now compared to Apple products!! Thats bizarre to me!!

It's another form of Godwin's Law for B&O threads. The first was "any thread about speakers on a budget or comparing any two speakers (like BL4000 vs BL6000) will eventually have someone recommeding the Beolab5" and the second is "any B&O product will eventually be compared to an Apple product, whether it's relevant or not." Usually, I'm guilty of the second one.

Re: Why are B&O doing a Beo6?

Jonathan — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 21:32:14 GMT

The Beo4, despite its age, is still better than anything from anyone else. Just picking up any other remote does not feel the same and is nowhere near as intuitive.