JensOfSweden
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Former Jens of Sweden head could face six years in the slammer
After Jens Nylander filed for bankruptcy in Sweden and moved to Switzerland, we sort of figured his troubled past was behind him, but it seems the law has reared its ugly head once again, and Jens could be facing six years and six months for failing to pay some customs back in the day with JoS. Jens claims it was all a misunderstanding: "This goes back to December two years ago. At that point we were importing 300 to 400 shipments of mp3 players per year. The problem stemmed from two shipments of mp3 players and FM receivers. Two of the boxes were mistakenly classified as mp3 players, without mentioning the FM receivers. That meant that we paid 320,000 kronor too little in customs and VAT." Customs authorities didn't take too this too lightly, and a prosecuting attorney has been holding onto the case for two years, finally to spring it on Jens this week. The wild thing is that not only did Jens of Sweden pay the charges as soon as it recognized its error, but Jens was at that point owed one million kronor by customs officials for over taxation -- which Nylander understandably partly blames for the company's bankruptcy -- meaning the 320,000 kroner in "underpayments" from JoS was just going to be deducted from that one million anyways. Of course, that's Jens' side of the story, the prosecuting attorney was unreachable for comment, but while Jens says "This is very difficult for me, for the colleague involved and our families," he seems confident that it'll be Jens FTW on this one, so that he can go back to whatever auditory tomfoolery he's getting into in Switzerland.[Thanks, Serge L]
Jens (of Sweden) unveils d-JAY earphones
They say you can't keep a good man down, and so it is with Scandinavian entrepreneur and rabble-rouser Jens Nylander, who keeps popping up with one or another device designed to enhance our portable audio experience. Usually we see Jens hawking digital audio players under the Jens of Sweden brand (now seeminlgly defunct), but today he's hit us up with a product from another one of his companies called JAYS: a pair of in-ear headphones which promise to reduce up to 90% of the surrounding noise by "producing the sound inside the ear." Known as the d-JAYS, these 'phones incorporate a proprietary Sound Isolating System built around a so-called micro armature, that Jens claims, in his typical fashion, will help reduce the risk of a hearing impairment he dubs "iPod ears." We'll find out if the d-JAYS live up to the hype come August, when they'll be shipping in a total of five colors (black, white, and three limited-edition shades) for a hundred bucks -- although you can get your pre-order on now for a 20% discount.
Jens Nylander is back with Jays
After having the rug pulled from underneath Jens of Sweden by CopySwede for not paying blood money royalties for copying audio to blank media (such as their MP3 players), and then kinda sorta transforming the company to Jens of Switzerland, it looks like Apple smack talkin' audio rebel Jens Nylander's making due on his promise to "still continue to sell digital products" with his latest company, Jays -- except this time he's not making MP3 players, but instead sound-isolating headphones. We couldn't easily tell from their early prototype images (like the one above), mockups, diagrams, or press release what it is that Jays headphones do differently than, say, some Shures or Etymotics, but according to Jays their phones won't have consumers paying "hundreds of dollars" for their isolated audio experience. Guess we'll all find out the deets come June 12th when Jens pulls the curtain on Jays.Update: Jens gave us a ring and sent over the above conceptual drawing of the squid-like q-JAYS (Quattro), which won't be what they're unveiling in June, but will supposedly be launched in 2007.
