Some very worrying news about Bang & Olufsen

28 replies
HE
Offline
Henry
BronzeFounder
Posted June 6, 2007 at 13:33 GMT
#1806065

Dear fellow BeoWorlders,

I'm not sure whether this is just me being paranoid, but I stumbled across something today on the Samsung Mobile website which I would have preferred not to see. Here's a quote of the bad bit I read under the Features tab of the new Samsung F300 cell phone:

Smart Music
The fully integrated music player supports all the most commonly used formats, Windows DRM, includes FM radio and superior acoustic quality with Bang & Olufsen Ice Power.

 

It might just be me who thinks this is a big deal, but I went on to read that another two new Samsung cell phones will also have this supposed 'Bang & Olufsen ICE Power digital amplifier' as it is named under the Specifications tab.

Could this ACTUALLY be yet another hint that the new and upcoming BeoSound 6 really is a Samsung MP3 player just with some more stylish clothes on?!

Further still, could this be damaging the Bang & Olufsen brand? Samsung mass produce all of their products, including their cell phones so why are B&O putting their nose into Samsung's business? In my opinion, this is just more bad news and as Peter said just yesterday I think (perhaps for different reasons than myself) "B&O are cheesing me off recently" and they've just done so again.

Here's the link to the Samsung F300:

BE
Offline
benjarys
Bronze
Posted June 6, 2007 at 13:46 GMT
#1806066

Ice Power in a cellphone? That seems strange... I never heard of that kind of technology in a phone.

If it's true, then it's not very good news. But it's not very bad either, we'll see what the future will bring. 

P(
Offline
Puncher (archived)
Bronze
Posted June 6, 2007 at 13:56 GMT
#1806067

Class D amplifiers are not unique to B&O and there are lots of single chip Class D amplifier solutions available from chip manufacturers for consumer electronic applications. I would be suprised if this isn't the standard method of mobile phone amplification given the efficiency benefits (esp at low voltage) and the constant quest for extended battery life in mobile phones. B&O may be using their "ICE" brand name purely for marketing reasons, associating it with the highly respected BL5. It may well be that this particular amp is designed by B&O but it will be interesting to find out upon what it is based. It may well be an off the shelf device as power levels are only going to be very low and it would seem strange to design a ground up solution for something commonly available in the market - remember that some premium devices (BL8000 springs to mind) use readily available off the shelf integrated amplifier chip solutions.

Background Info

Peter
Offline
Peter
Gold
Posted June 6, 2007 at 13:57 GMT
#1806068

B&O do sell their ICE power technology to other companies - B&W spring to mind - and I have seen Samsung saying this before. I don't have a problem with this. In fact in the 80s it was not uncommon to see the B&O name on a number of products as they licensed the HX-Pro technology. Most just put Dolby HX-Pro on but a few more brand conscious mentioned B&O! Sometimes seen on Ebay!!

To be fair, B&O have not cheesed me off (well, no more than usual! 😂 ) more some of their representatives. However this is not the place to air my grievances.

My B&O Icons:

BeoCenter-9500.png BeoCenter-9500.png
Beoremote-Beo4.png Beoremote-Beo4.png
Beovox.png Beovox.png
Beovision-11.png Beovision-11.png
Beotime.png Beotime.png
Beosound-Stage.png Beosound-Stage.png
Beosound-Moment.png Beosound-Moment.png
Beosound-5.png Beosound-5.png
Beosound-2.png Beosound-2.png
Beoremote-One.png Beoremote-One.png
Beoplay-Portal.png Beoplay-Portal.png
Beoplay-Earset.png Beoplay-Earset.png
Beomaster.png Beomaster.png
Beolit.png Beolit.png
Beogram-400x.png Beogram-400x.png
Beocenter-2.png Beocenter-2.png
9_LEE
Offline
9_LEE
Bronze
Posted June 6, 2007 at 14:12 GMT
#1806069
I have a feeling that the phone charging base could well be a docking station with integrated speakers...

Food for thought.

Lee
HE
Offline
Henry
BronzeFounder
Posted June 6, 2007 at 14:21 GMT
#1806070
And what about the BS6 and the Samsung MP3 player? B&O and Samsung seem to be best buddies recently so I'm still a little undecided about these coincidences we've noticed.
P(
Offline
Puncher (archived)
Bronze
Posted June 6, 2007 at 14:21 GMT
#1806071
Food for thought.

Lee

Bose docking station/speakers ???😂

E(
Offline
eduard (archived)
Bronze
Posted June 6, 2007 at 14:25 GMT
#1806072
9 LEE:
I have a feeling that the phone charging base could well be a docking station with integrated speakers...

Food for thought.

Lee

Bose docking station/speakers ???😂

 

You mean kikinoko???

S(
Offline
soundproof (archived)
Bronze
Posted June 6, 2007 at 14:53 GMT
#1806073

B&O sell ICEpower amp's to more than 50 different companies producing amplifiers, loudspeakers, in-car solutions, etc.

Here are a few of them:

 

Can't see this as worrying at all - might be fun to see what ICEpower can do in a mobile phone. 

9_LEE
Offline
9_LEE
Bronze
Posted June 6, 2007 at 14:55 GMT
#1806074
Just a rumour i heard, nothing else.

😁

I get a horrible feeling though, that Samsung would love nothing more than to buy Bang & Olufsen.  They are a very ambitious company, and what a great little catch it would be to have such a prestige company with such a lovely history under its belt.

I know B&O are listed on the stock exchange, but i'm not sure if a takeover would be possible wether the B&O shareholders liked it or not..

It would worry me if this were the case, even though they would be a great asset technically.  It would just take away some of the "magic" B&O has which lays in it's ownership and history if a mass manufacturer owned it.

Lee
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