Bang and Olufsen launch new "play" brand and Beolit 12 Airplay speaker.

Bang and Olufsen have announced not only the launch of a new product, but the Launch of the first product of a brand new range from B&O.  The first time B&O have launched a completely new product range for almost 2 years, and even then it was merely the Beosound controllers for existing Bang and Olufsen products, this not only therefore marks a new range and new products, but the launch of a completely new direction for Bang and Olufsen, one which leaves them for the first time actually keeping up with technological trends, a strategy which formerly they have always been reticent to choose, opting to wait until a technology is popular before incorporating it into their products.

The range which has been entitled "play" has no real direction at present, what we can read between the lines from their announcement is that they are desperate to remain relevant in an evolving world where high end audio which offers limited features is no longer a viable business model, we can see then that the creation of the "play" umbrella allows them to saftley release edgier products at lower price points, which can then be quietly discontinued if no longer technologically advanced enough to keep pace, or simply are not good sellers.  Meanwhile they will keep their core "pure" B&O products separate, and presumably if a product becomes roaringly successful in the "play" range, it will be modified, souped up and released in the main brand.

This strategy makes considerable sense for B&O, as mentioned, the difficult economic markets do not allow for brands that offer only the highest end products to survive unless they are able to fit a niche, and Bang&Olufsen does not really fit a niche, certainly some of their products are one of a kind, such as the UFO speakers for example, however most products are merely exceptionally well designed and well engineered versions of ordinary products, savvy consumers can see through this very easily, and going back to difficult economic times, purchasing luxury electronics that perform no better than cheaper ones just because they look nice and can integrate with other products, is no longer a sensible business model.

And with this in mind we present the first product from the new range, the Beolit 12, this little baby is a one trick pony if ever we saw one, quite simply it is an airplay speaker with audio in, a leather carry handle and a rechargeable battery with 8 hours play time, nothing more nothing less, and with that Bang and Olufsen have suddenly brought themselves bang up to date and into the Apple revolution proper.

Certainly they do have a Apple Ipod/iPad dock already, the critically acclaimed beosound 8, however, to REALLY be part of the new generation of products, you need to be able to link wirelessly to the music system from your iThing and control the music from the palm of your hand, remote controllers just cannot give the same usability the screen of an iPod can, but B&O crucially omitted this from their design masterpiece dock, and have been loosing customers to B&W's redesigned zepellin, and other lower price point alternatives with airplay ever since.

And with this new, sub £650 Airplay speaker, wrapped in aluminium clad beauty, designed by young Danish designer Cecile Manz, they may have a chance of capturing some of the market they are loosing out on to the likes of Bose, sonos and the aforementioned B&W.

Aside from the projected price point, which is at this stage only an estimate, specifications include a class D amplifier with a total of 120 watts, 2 tweeters and 1 4" woofer, 2.8kg of weight, 1 USB connector, 1 mini jack, 1 ethernet, and illuminated controls.