HARMAN announces continued collaboration with Softbank Group
MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2015, BARCELONA – HARMAN International Industries, Incorporated (NYSE:HAR), the premier audio, visual, infotainment and enterprise automation group, announced today that it will continue its successful strategic collaboration with Brightstar worldwide, SoftBank (Japan), Sprint (U.S.A), and Trikomsel (Indonesia). Under the renewed agreement, the HARMAN partners will sell the new Harman Kardon® Onyx Studio™ 2 portable Bluetooth wireless speaker to their customers globally.
“After last year’s successful collaboration with our partners regarding the first Onyx Studio™ portable Bluetooth wireless speaker, we are thrilled to extend our collaboration”, said Dinesh Paliwal, Chairman, President, and CEO of HARMAN. “We are proud that our product has convinced all four partners from last year and their customers of its superior quality and has led to the extension of our collaboration. This will further expand our reach in key global markets and advance our mission to provide people with the best possible sound experience where and whenever they choose to listen to music. We are sure that the new Onyx Studio 2 will be an even greater success than its predecessor.”
“Sprint is excited to be the exclusive retailer in the United States for the second generation of Harman Kardon’s Onyx Studio speaker,” said Tom Roberts, senior vice president of marketing, Sprint. “The initial version of this speaker was incredibly well-received by Sprint customers when it launched last year. The attractive Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 2 will easily deliver on its promise to bring Sprint customers a superior sound experience.”
The Harman Kardon® Onyx Studio™ received outstanding customer product reviews and was one of the best-selling wireless speakers in the US. It was number 2 in market share in the USA in November 2014 and number 4 in market share in December 2014. Overall, more than 2 million units were shipped. As with its predecessor, the new Harman Kardon® Onyx Studio™ 2 combines award winning design language with a beautiful balanced form blended with an amazing audio performance delivering authentic, room-sized sound from any compatible hand-held device. The compact, free-standing speaker system incorporates two woofers, two tweeters, and two passive radiator cones for rich and realistic four-channel sound. The unit connects wirelessly to any Bluetooth® enabled hand-held device and has a rechargeable lithium ion battery that allows for up to five hours of playing time. The new speaker has an integrated Aux-In port for music playback from non-Bluetooth sources, is entirely made of premium lifestyle materials upgraded from the first version and allows Bluetooth sharing where two devices can simultaneously connect to the speaker. In addition, the new Onyx Studio™ 2 can be used as a speaker phone, providing premium audio and voice quality due to its integrated noise and echo cancellation software.
For further information and specifications about the Harman Kardon® Onyx Studio™ please visit www.harmankardon.com/onyxstudio. The Harman Kardon® Onyx Studio™ Bluetooth 2 portable speaker will be available exclusively through Brightstar, SoftBank, Sprint, and Trikomsel, via cross product promotional activities through the Mobility channel or by purchasing the product as a standalone from $449.99 MSRP. The targeted launch date for Sprint stores is April 1st, 2015.
HARMAN
Nicole Mehr
Director Corporate Affairs and Communications Europe
Phone: 49-7248-71-1272
About HARMAN
HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets premier audio, visual, infotainment and enterprise automation solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets. With leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® , Mark Levinson ® and Revel®, the Company is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of approximately 17,600 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $5.9 billion during the last 12 months ended December 31, 2014. The Company’s shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NYSE:HAR.
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