With Apple dropping their AirPods Max, it is easy to imagine Apple eating into the noise cancelling market share. Is this the end of the road for Bose in a segment they have historically dominated? How is the leadership reacting?
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That would be the song of the proverbial rotund soprano.
IMO the biggest problem is marketing, Apple has worked hard to get their name out and now it's most people associate Apple with a good product. I rarely see a Bose advertisement anywhere. They need to get commercials out and IMO they should spend some $ to get air time at Superbowl and come up with a really great commercial that would stand out.
Commercial idea:
Bose Guy it listening to opera music using Bluetooth speaker outside his house.
Suddenly, music is drowned out by distorted music coming from next doors, neighbors are laughing.
Bose Guy turns his up and drowns them out with CLEAR flawless sound.
Neighbor turns their music up even further.
Bose Guy presses button on bluetooth app, sound system morphs into opera singer who bellows out a clear note REALLY loud.
Fade to neighbor, they are all pinned against house wall due to Bose music system, one of them just goes "Wow, that was CLEAR!"
End of commercial.
I left this year (part of retails bye bye) and I think its interesting how little you see/hear about Bose products when your out of the bubble. There is no hot product that Bose has this year. Lots of old products, and lots of mehhh productts.
RUN.
"What happened to the stove anyways?"
- J.'s inability to cook a crepe turn out not to be a marketable product.
Apple has the ecosystem, from chips, looks and usability.
Google, amazon, facebook, microsoft, intel can't match it.
Bose does not even matter.
Just look at how many people have moved, seems a one way street.
What happened to the stove anyways?
Interesting review from David Carnoy, who the Bose bigs had to HQ not that many years ago to "wow" him with personal attention and a tour of the campus. He even wrote about the very long-dead Bose stove top they showed him as if it were a new innovation.
https://www.cnet.com/news/airpods-max-review-the-price-hurts-but-they-are-excellent/
IMO, Apple will follow its recipe after establishing a lot of free press and chatter with this first entry. "All sold out" driving demand right on cue. Ramp up the volume in 2021, sell a lot at the premium price, create variants, and start playing the price reduction games via all the sales channels. They did a masterful job with AirPods (and Beats too) and continue to do so.
BTW, Beats, an Apple brand, is still doing incredibly well and continues to enhance offerings. They too integrate the Apple chip for ecosystem integration, have good ANC, and offered some amazing channel-specific sales so far this season. Beats alone has been well over -all- Bose revenue and profit for many years. Think about that a moment.
"audio glasses"? Don't forget Amazon already has Echo Frames.
If it has big market, Apple can do it easily
"Sleep buds"? There are already many out there, Bose did not invent anyway, just bought a small company for it.
I believe new product from apple would take a small share this time (relatively), next iteration of their product would surely enhance and that could literally turn the tables for QC Products and the noise cancelling market.
They have far more outreach in other parts of the word not just North America. They would definitely push it too ! Oh !! and wait till they start giving offers just like their apple airpods.
Bose needs to be much more aggressive in their marketing and must form some sort of strategic alliance with other partners to push their product through different channels(Amazon isn't enough). It's no longer the game for who invented it. I believe it's much more of who aced it.
Get your game up guys, can no longer wait till they come with audio glasses and sleep masking buds.
Lay-off again? In CED or across the company?
CB announced departure a few weeks ago, being backfilled and adding a new CMO role. SVP of People (HR) did the same more recently, announced departure. Seeing an upsurge in others leaving on their own terms to new and exciting jobs.
Enjoy the holidays, be safe and well. Keeping the Bose go-bags packed, expecting the usual coming into 2021 as has happened year after year now. More reductions using what has become a honed process internally using 6S/PDCA processes.
I heard Collette Burke is finally leaving too. While I can't believe the way she handled retails shut down, she was very loyal to the company.
Is someone replacing her? Or will direct sales (bose.xx) vanish.
Leadership is jumping ship, is how they’re reacting.
I have to believe this will significantly hurt. In texting with a few friends in leadership positions, they are thinking a 15% cut is going to come in Q1. Get your resumes together