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By Sondra Sneed
Some companies are turning a blind eye to a bad economy, which could allow them to steal market share from those who are cutting back. An example of that strategy is Aussie-based BlueAnt who, instead of scaling down, is ramping up product design and engineering to produce some of the best Bluetooth products in the consumer market.
CES 2009 was the stage for BlueAnt to relaunch its brand by showcasing an impressive and stylish new headset, the Q1 (pictured right). Attractive, sleek upgrades were made to already popular headsets, establishing the company as a ‘best in class’ choice.
“We want the BlueAnt name to be synonymous with Bluetooth,” says Michael Pratt, VP U.S. Sales. “We want BlueAnt to be to Bluetooth what Xerox is to making copies.” That ambition creates tantalizing prospects for consumers who are looking for hands-free accessories with genuine plug-n-play simplicity.
If as a retailer, you are looking for a risk-free way to sell your customers on Bluetooth, BlueAnt’s 2-year manufacturer’s warranty is a great place to start the conversation. The next step is to talk about how easy it is to pair the new BlueAnt models that contain their voice control technology.
At the time of writing this article, the Q1 was not yet ready for shipment so I was sent its predecessor, the V1, to play with the voice control. After opening its unique packaging a ‘quick start card’ said to place the headset “comfortably” in my ear before doing anything else. The fit was great. Then I pressed the BlueAnt button, as instructed, and the next thing that happened was a wonderful surprise.
A reassuring, male voice in my ear provided step-by-step instructions on how to pair the device with my phone. No code was required, no guessing as to whether it was 1234 or 0000, because once the phone was put in discovery mode, the pairing occurred without further effort. And while the V1 would satisfy any hands-free Bluetooth necessity, the Q1 takes their pre-existing technologies like voice control and dual-mic noise cancellation, but also adds an innovative form factor to create their first ever, wind resistant microphone. So now you can talk with the top down on a convertible or the air vent blowing on your face.
BlueAnt headsets are one way to satisfy your customers’ need for hands free, but they aren’t the only way. Some people are not comfortable with headsets of any kind and may prefer a speakerphone alternative.
The Supertooth 3 has amazing sound quality, with clarity that exceeds any other output, even FM transmission through the car stereo, and is very easy to pair. It is made with surprising quality that is not evident from its picture so when it arrived for me to review, I was immediately struck by the substantial construction. The sound quality was like nothing I had heard from a Bluetooth speakerphone before. There was absolutely no distortion and my conversation was as clear as if the caller was in the car with me.
Another amazing feature of their Supertooth 3 speaker phone is the TTS or Text to Speech incorporation.
The feature uploads your phone’s contacts and will announce a caller by name, so using voice recognition, you need simply say “Answer” or “Ignore” without having to do anything with your hands. It also has full duplex capability so I was able to argue with my husband without stopping to listen and pay attention to the road. Now that’s freedom!
BlueAnt is a company with products you can sell without fearing a return. “Our retailers tell us that BlueAnt products don’t come back like the others do,” says Pratt. Which may indeed be why they can offer a 2-year warranty in the first place.
The Q1 was introduced at CES and promises to be BlueAnt’s best headset yet, cutting out wind noise and incorporating the popular voice control feature that was brought to the V1.