Bose Bows Wireless Portable Speaker System for Smartphone, Tablet Music

Bose Thursday took the wraps off a wireless portable audio speaker system designed to work with smartphones and tablets. A company spokesman cited the 2 billion iTunes songs downloaded worldwide last year and the 400 million smartphones, tablets and laptops sold as potential pairing partners for the speakers, which operate over Bluetooth in a 30-foot range. He also noted the range of Internet radio streaming services available on portable devices. “People have all this content on their portable devices,” a spokesman said, “but they need something else to be able to share it."

The two-inch-thick speaker system, roughly the size of an epic hardcover novel, went on sale Thursday afternoon at Bose stores and at the company’s retail partners, according to President Bob Maresca. Maresca said Apple stores that sell powered speakers will also carry the system. At 2.85 pounds, the SoundLink is hefty by today’s portable electronics standards, but Maresca said the weight was necessary to ensure sound quality and durability. Despite the weight, Bose is pushing the portability aspect of the speaker system and said it went through rigorous product testing including more than 100,000 presses for each of the unit’s top-loaded buttons, drop tests of 3 feet and salt and fog testing in 100 percent humidity at temperatures of 77-140 degrees for “thousands of hours.” The system is “moisture-resistant, not waterproof,” Maresca said.

The SoundLink packs four neodymium-based transducers for mid and high frequencies and dual opposing passive radiators with a waffle-shaped surround for bass, the company said. Asked about the impact of neodymium price hikes (CED Aug 31 p1) on design decisions and manufacturing cost of the product, Maresca said prices have only gone up significantly in the past 5 months or so “so we were way down the path.” Calling the price spike “meteoric,” he said there was “no chance to turn around so we didn’t adjust sale price or [make] any design changes,” he said. “It was just too late.” Maresca noted neodymium is a far higher percentage of the bill of materials for wind turbines that use a metric ton of the rare earth material, compared with loudspeakers that use “a small portion.” For Bose, looking at the bill of materials for speakers, “neodymium used to be insignificant,” he said. “Now it’s significant but it doesn’t kill it, and we'll have to absorb it in other ways to maintain the price point because it’s an important price point,” he said.

SoundLink comes with a cover that doubles as a stand and is available in two versions: a $299 model with a nylon case and a $349 model with a leather case. Nylon cases are available in dark grey, but consumers can buy accessory cases for $29.95 in red or purple. The leather version comes in dark brown with a “premium trim level” that includes polished chrome edges, Bose said. Accessory leather covers are $49 in burgundy or tan, Bose said. The covers also serve as power savers, automatically turning off the device to preserve battery life, which the company gives as 4 hours at maximum volume level. Recharge time for the lithium-ion battery is 2 hours, a spokesman said. The system doesn’t come with a remote control, relying instead on controls at the top of the unit or on phones or tablets, the company said.

Maresca cited company policy not to discuss upcoming products when we asked if technologies introduced in the SoundLink would extend to future Bose products in the same way it leveraged development of Acoustimass and Acoustic Wave technology. “To the extent that our headphones are used in the mobile category, it’s not surprising that we would be adding products in that category,” he said.