For those who reckoned a company like
Bang & Olufsen was safe from any
economic turmoil, um, reckon again. As people from all walks of life decide to spend less extravagantly during these curious, curious times, it seems that B&O has been affected quite dramatically. As you well know, said company makes its ends by offering up stupendously pricey gizmos, but starting now, you'll find it only offering "core products" such as
televisions and
sound systems. Unfortunately for those with cash to blow, that means you'll be scouring the secondhand market for B&O
cellphones, DVD players and recorders. In addition, the company is planning to axe 300 jobs to save around $27.5 million, but it is looking to open more shops in "growth markets" such as Russia and China.
[Via
iDNES]
Read - Product cuts
Read - Job cuts
posted Oct 29th 2008 8:23AM
Oh no, those poor people...
The whole company has just lost touch with reality.
Overpriced gadgets, designed by people that are way too high on their own supposed "talent".
With great design found in stores like Target at reasonable prices, maybe B&O should swallow their pride and start designing for the mass market of today, because right now when I think of them, I think of audio equipment from the 70s and 80s
btw I still love my Beomaster 1900!
Right on, Fred. B&O -- and I own a couple of their classic sound systems that look as good and work as well as when I bought them more than two decades years ago -- has become quite pathetic shell of its former self. Combine that with arrogance, and you have the makings of a company that will be bankrupt soon.
The tech world has passed them by........
Honestly, the cell phone is ugly. *no offense*
BANG! You're dead.
The Serenata. Reminds me of technology that looks good but does not work. Like walking into a sexy bathroom but you cant was your hands as the tap sensor is unlocatable.!. To enter any info text or sms was impossible and B&O were locking them so they could only be used regionally.
I realize if they made their stuff less expensive they would dilute their market... but if they made a "consumer level" line for phones, home audio, and speakers they would sell HUGE quantities. Look at what BMW did with the 3 series.. and now the 1 series.
Aspiring investment bankers want a BMW 3 series. Successful ones (read, the ones that ate your lunch) buy a 5 or 7 series.
I think that is the gist of it, much like buying "I am rich" iPhone screensaver.
Me? I'll stick with my Pontiac.
I find this company had something big in mind with their name!
I mean take the "uf" away, and you have Bang Olsen!
Coincidence?! I think not!
300 jobs saves $27.5 million? That's nearly a $92k average salary! Obviously some job losses will be at $150k and others $35k, so maybe a lot of top brass are for the chop. Or they get paid very handsomely.
Assuming these jobs are in Denmark, half the money will be going to employer taxes, pensions etc
The phones were a disaster. B&O was way cool 20 years back - the awesome design, great performance. But they lost touch, and more importantly like many other consumer companies, never "got" software. These days, the software is what makes or breaks gadgets.
Even as far back as 2001 they kinda lost it. I remember I was finally in a position where I could afford B&O stuff, and loved the design. Just got my first iPod. Walked through the B&O store and it was all CDs, mp3 was nowhere to be seen or heard.
I guess they saturated their target market for the cell phone. What was it, a total of eight people that would pick pure form over function?
That's the problem with most of their stuff... Cool looks and operation, but mediocre sound quality (As compared with products half their price with conventional design).
Too bad... i would have expected them to come out with the iphone style/type. The two Samsung/B&O phone were pretty bad!
Hello nikster thats not right !
The winged shaped Beocenter 2 can play DVD,Divx, MP3 files and so on
You can access your MP3 over Beoport Network. A box connected to a PC could be also a very small HTPC with old Pentium in the corner of your house. So can access with all music systems and the Beo4 remote those files.
They have 2 MP3 Player , one without display (like shuffle) ,one with display
The BS3200 audiosystem has an internal hardrive, you put a CD in the audio system and press a button and it will ripped at 320 kbps onto the harddrive
They've the Beomedia 1 Box. For photos, videos,mp3 + WifI
And the last Blogbuster product will be the Beosound 5, far beyond what apple could offer us ...
High-end fully difital audio dream---
So Gonzo, how long have you worked for them?
.
"The BS3200 audiosystem has an internal hardrive, you put a CD in the audio system and press a button and it will ripped at 320 kbps onto the harddrive"
Yes, I think I have heard of these things. Is it something like a "come pewt her"?
both mp3 players and phones are made by samsung. Both of the mp3 players that were rebranded can be found for around the $50 range as opposed to about $400.
The Beosound 3 ,has a SD-Card Slot for MP3 only
And the Beosound 4 has an SD-Card , for Mp3-- It can even record from current radio-station or input source directly with 128 kbps onto the Sd-Card.
The Cell phone , Serenata has a 4 GB flash memory built in ... for Mp3 and so on
So you see bang & Olufsen = MP3 at nearly all products
I think the point was made that B&O were very late to the game of MP3 and that is entirely true.
Vintage B&O is just very cool and waaaaay nicer designed that tthe new stuff. that 'winged' thingy is just the pits in esthetics, and so are their new top of the line speakers. Good design at B&O left with Jacob Jensen, about the same time that Braun stopped making cool stuff.
They had a really fantastic form language then. Now? not good...
It DID take them forever to get to market with MP3.
B&O is what I consider to be a very overpriced version of Sharper Image. Some of the stuff looks cool but when you get down to it none of it performs any better than their way cheaper counterparts.
Well, B&O have more in common with BOSE than Sharper Image. Their stuff is overpriced. While their equipment sounds adequate, it underperforms for its price. But, I've never seen a B&O ad, so they don't whore out their products as much as bose.
Maybe they pulled the cell phone because it was ugly? Just a thought.
These are the kind of people who bought it...
http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog/?em3106=211859_-1__0_~0_-1_10_2008_0_0&em3281=&em3161=
.....prob got it on sale
I read most of the comments. I feel bad for those misguided losers.....
Thank GOD. B&O is just a big fat FAD.
They were already in the business of accepting shipments from China and refurbishing them with gold plating and diamonds.