Regarding the Beosound 5 I know from my dealer that they sold just one since launch....and there are not a small one according to  the (internal revenue) B&O ranking

My dealer told me emediately when BS5 was lounched that it will be hard to sell because BS5 does not have a CD player and people will find hard to put music on the BM5 via computer.

avus17 wrote:

My dealer told me emediately when BS5 was lounched that it will be hard to sell because BS5 does not have a CD player and people will find hard to put music on the BM5 via computer.

That was my first thought as well. I like the concept of  high-end digital audio player that avoids the need for a PC, but to then require users to use a computer anyway and/or visit their dealer and pay to have the CD ripped avery time they wanted to have music was madness, especially considering how little it would have cost to add a CD reader.

My take is that B&O will be bought by a larger company....

(Panasonic ?)

B&O won't be able to live as a standalone company. They must optimize their margins without increasing the prices (which are already 'premium'). Only a buy out by a larger company of the sector will enable B&O to achieve this objective.

Much as I like the BeoSound 5 product I do think it is silly how you have different parts and cables everywhere. I can see how this would put off many buyers, myself included. I also agree that is would have been better with CD capabailities built in. The company is definitly struggling; that has been obvious for some time. B&O have made some silly choices with products and pricing and with very little if not any market research. They have relied on older products and their brand name which has worked only to a small extent but diminishes quickly as existing customers become bored and have lost faith in what the company is doing.

Simon.

To inject a touch of optimism here. Jyske Bank in Denmark, which runs a pretty mean analysts' room, are up about B&O's prospects, calling the share undervalued at present, stating that the recapitalization was successful and is giving the company breathing room, and claiming that there are very interesting products in the pipeline. As Jyske Bank would have some irate investors on their backs if they were too Polyanna about B&O, that's got to count for something.

Hard.. some very poor decisions and products have compounded the problem imo but they are not alone and most companies are in a similar position so why single out B&O in the current climate?

That said, I do not think B&O will be took over.......  If this was going to happen then we would have heard something or seen some action in the markets by now? I would imagine there is a lot of speculation about certain companies and is it fair to say that B&O is not your average company? and I would hazard a guess and say that there is probably only a handful of companies out there who would entertain the idea of taking over B&O?

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