ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0KE13620150105?irpc=932
Probably a good thing...
Beoworld app with direct photo upload and emoticons.
He already said that before christmas.
And it was mentioned - briefly- in the general meeting autum 2014 ---- more like 'we'll need to have a plan B in case...'.
MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
Hello Samsung!
Ban boring signatures!
Puncher: Hello Samsung!
Samsung is a better fit than the mentioned Sony. Sony has big problems of it's own.
Martin: Puncher: Hello Samsung! Samsung is a better fit than the mentioned Sony. Sony has big problems of it's own.
I was semi-joking but Samsung's management did express admiration of B&O style and design philosophy during their brief phone collaboration and Samsung's TV's did leap to the aluminium surround (effect) during that period. I think that they realise, much like the far eastern car manufacturers, that they cannot match the design flair and imagination and are much better at the technological and manufacturing issues.
Far rather them than a certain American company who are arrogant enough to think they can do better - the sales might increase but the soul would die!
Get treatment for your fruit allergy Puncher!
Graham
we tend to forget there is more to design than designing.
vikinger: Get treatment for your fruit allergy Puncher! Graham
No need! - I'm quite happy to stand by what I said, thanks!
4 beolab 5, beolab 9, beolab 10, beolab 5000, beolab 8000 mk2, beolab 6002, beolab 3500, beovision 7 55 mk2, 2 beovision 11 46 mk4, beotime, beosound ouverture, beosound essence, beoplay A8, beomaster 900 RG de luxe and the collection continues...
Puncher: I was semi-joking but Samsung's management did express admiration of B&O style and design philosophy during their brief phone collaboration and Samsung's TV's did leap to the aluminium surround (effect) during that period. I think that they realise, much like the far eastern car manufacturers, that they cannot match the design flair and imagination and are much better at the technological and manufacturing issues. Far rather them than a certain American company who are arrogant enough to think they can do better - the sales might increase but the soul would die!
If that certain company took over, then all manufacturing would be moved to China, the prices would increase (so would sales, if they put a certain fruit on the front) - and we might end up seeing B&O sales staff in blue T-shirts giving "high-fives" to the customers...
Easy now.
The chairman was asked - what else could he have answered, when asked that question?
I am sure they have several different 'Plan B's' in Struer.
Well, if Apple got together with B&O, some people might get their eyes opened for where the iMac and Macbooks have their design inspiration from.
My friend was over for a coffee today, and I told him to take a look at my Macbook Pro. Then at My BV7. Then at my Beosystem 5500. Then back to my Macbook Pro. He just started laughing.
But getting together with a "mass-manufactorer" could keep the beautiful design and quality, and lower the prices. :)
"You think we can slap some oak on this thing?"
Samsung takin over would be the worse thing that could ever happen. They are ruthless in business, the McDonalds of the electronics industry. They'd pull B&O to pieces. How could a company like Samsung under stand B&O's culture and heritage? It would be like Primark buying Dolce&Gabbana or Paul Smith!
Seriously guys, Samsung would dissolve the brand within months!
Lots of family owned Italian luxury brands have sold out recently so that the companies can survive in the face of pressure from China.
The latest is not so luxury Indesit being sold to Whirlpool.
Who would B&O be of greatest value to..... An American company earning massive profits or a far east company operating on tiny margins but massive turnover?
In the end the major shareholders will want the best price for their shares, with some sort of undertaking that a certain proportion of manufacturing will continue in Denmark for, say, 5 or 10 years.
Paul W: Samsung takin over would be the worse thing that could ever happen. They are ruthless in business, the McDonalds of the electronics industry. They'd pull B&O to pieces. How could a company like Samsung under stand B&O's culture and heritage? It would be like Primark buying Dolce&Gabbana or Paul Smith! Seriously guys, Samsung would dissolve the brand within months!
As I said, Samsung openly acknowledged B&O's attributes, skills and uniqueness, I'm sure they know they'd be fools to interfere with the creative processes but can assist with enabling technologies and manufacturing know-how.
Invert everything I've said above for the American company!
Just how much have Tata damaged Jaguar's product standing in the period they've owned them?
StUrrock:"If someone knocks on our door, we will of course listen to what they have to say," Chairman Ole Andersen told Reuters on Monday. Is that corporate speak for "WE ARE DESPERATE. PLEASE HELP!" ?
Beosound Stage, Beovision 8-40, Beolit 20, Beosound Explore.
Totally agree with Vikinger Apple is about style, design and indeed high market ups 55%-60% compared to the usual 20-30%. Samsung is a company that churns out everything for the cheapest price and highest turnover so I really couldn't imagine B&O being their cup of tea. Now Sony, wasn't that a highly upmarket brand in the early 80s?
Who knows in business now, I mean look at Apple buying BEATS for 3Billion - how can anyone explain that?
I'd love to see separate really funky but small B&O PLAY showrooms in the cities - small like the Nespresso boutiques but really inviting and a real pleasureable experience or B&O PLAY shops opening in boutiques or something thats a little bit different but cutting edge for the young crowd.
Paul W: Totally agree with Vikinger Apple is about style, design and indeed high market ups 55%-60% compared to the usual 20-30%. Samsung is a company that churns out everything for the cheapest price and highest turnover so I really couldn't imagine B&O being their cup of tea. Now Sony, wasn't that a highly upmarket brand in the early 80s? Who knows in business now, I mean look at Apple buying BEATS for 3Billion - how can anyone explain that? I'd love to see separate really funky but small B&O PLAY showrooms in the cities - small like the Nespresso boutiques but really inviting and a real pleasureable experience or B&O PLAY shops opening in boutiques or something thats a little bit different but cutting edge for the young crowd.
What if the bleeding edge, fully packed smart curved OLED TV's were released under the B&O brand first together with B&O's extras (design, materials, moving stands, audio technology etc), rather than in two years time using someone else's last year's panel!
Rather that than selling crappy plastic BEATS for over inflated prices!
Ar but Puncher, you know businesses in todays cut throat world, Samsung wouldn't treat the brand like TATA did with Jag & Land Rover, they'd dissolve it.
Having many Indians friends, they say that TATA had a very high opinion of English products & heritage and wanted to further that. I really don't think the Koreans - Samsung would understand the B&O concept. It would be like McDonalds buying the Carlucci's food chain but worse.
But don't worry guys, this always happens to B&O decade after decade and somehow, they seem to hold their head above the water.
Chris Townsend: StUrrock: "If someone knocks on our door, we will of course listen to what they have to say," Chairman Ole Andersen told Reuters on Monday. Is that corporate speak for "WE ARE DESPERATE. PLEASE HELP!" ? Seems like it! I hope it doesn't send the wrong message around the world
StUrrock: "If someone knocks on our door, we will of course listen to what they have to say," Chairman Ole Andersen told Reuters on Monday. Is that corporate speak for "WE ARE DESPERATE. PLEASE HELP!" ?
"If someone knocks on our door, we will of course listen to what they have to say," Chairman Ole Andersen told Reuters on Monday.
Is that corporate speak for "WE ARE DESPERATE. PLEASE HELP!"
?
Seems like it! I hope it doesn't send the wrong message around the world
I have lost track of B&O's financial restructuring, but if I am not mistaken shareholders from around 10 years ago have lost 90% of their investment.
This is looking like a final bail-out.
B&O is a survivor?
They have been there before.
Paul W: Ar but Puncher, you know businesses in todays cut throat world, Samsung wouldn't treat the brand like TATA did with Jag & Land Rover, they'd dissolve it. Having many Indians friends, they say that TATA had a very high opinion of English products & heritage and wanted to further that. I really don't think the Koreans - Samsung would understand the B&O concept.
Having many Indians friends, they say that TATA had a very high opinion of English products & heritage and wanted to further that. I really don't think the Koreans - Samsung would understand the B&O concept.
But they openly stated/admitted that they do!
Puncher you're right! LG today annaunced more OLED TV panels from 55" upwards with 4K. Now B&O will soon be able to take advantage of those panels and suddenly you've got the best performing TV in every case.
Certainly if Apple was to help, it would be an end to B&Os nightmare software problems. It's sad though as my experience, in radio suggests that the minute an outside company starts investing, you lose your brand or control of it. The Made in Denmark or the BANG&OLUFSEN OF DENMARK heritage was for me, what made B&O completely different from any other brand.
Surely the car audio side of B&O is doing really well? Nearly every premium brand is offering it. The 14 speaker system that I ordered in the A3 is very very good for the price - it was £750 inc VAT. Even the chrome speaker grilles have a white led light strip on them.
Yes Chris, they've teamed up with Panasonic too to supply Panasonic with OLED panels and they are NOT curved thank goodness :) New BV11 & Avants with OLED panels? Sure why not?
Price wise we'll be seeing 55" OLED LG at £1500 so in reality that's only £500 more than a 55" 4K LCD!
I think only reason apple would go after them is that there might be some patents on aluminium processing or something like that. Maybe Icepower for sound.
For TV, I dont hink BO has anythin that could ramp up wih the volumes an apple would need.
Samsung on the other hand, if integration is done right, could potentially introduce some economies, even though I doubt it will be enough.
I though the quick product launches they are doing were a sign of improvement .....
While I don’t think they have the cash for it, I would love to see a merger between Bang & Olufsen and Sonos. I see a lot of synergies with this combination. Bang & Olufsen does speakers and design perfectly but fails at anything software based. On the other hand, Sonos gets software based audio right, but their audio products are limited to the low end market.
Under such a merger, there can be either three (Sonos, BeoPlay and Bang & Olufsen) or two (BeoPlay and Bang & Olufsen) tiers of products. If there is just the two tiers of products, the Sonos stuff should redesigned into the BeoPlay brand and Sonos’s software should get pushed up to the Bang & Olufsen brand. If there is the three tiers of products, Sonos’s software should get pushed up to the BeoPlay and Bang & Olufsen brands.
BeoNut since '75
As I thought from the beginning Tue Mantoni sank the company.
He didn't understand Bang & Olufsen's spirit.
Bad boy ! joke on
In fairness, I think Tue had an incredibly hard job. I know that I couldn't of done it! He tried EVERYTHING and nothing so far has worked. He did a good job launching PLAY with the A8/BS8 which four years on looks as amazing now as it did on day one. Just its pricing was a little off. Then there was the Airplay drop out problems - not necessarily his fault. But the guy's tried from entry level PLAY to the crazy priced speakers BL18/20 which has probably a very limited cash spend market. Maybe there's a lot of old wood and hierachy at B&O which of course kills a company. Yes, I'll never forgive Tue for outsourcing the brand to be made in China which doesn't do it for me but they guy tried and by looking at his attempts, he really did try!
Is B&O now where Apple was in the mid 90s? On the verge of collapse? I don't know much about business but both companies have similar attributes.
Apple had Steve Jobs the visionary to come and clean house and start with a blank slate.
What can B&O do? I agree that Tue has done as much as a CEO can without major overhauls of philosophy and turmoil within the company. By all accounts the Avant as well as other more recent products are good and have done well relatively speaking, right? I am at a loss for what else can be added to the magic sauce to help this company turn around? Maybe B&O and the kind of products it makes is extra-sensitive to the economic climate. Have other / Are other luxury niche brands experiencing the same things? I don't know.
I for one, would NOT like to see it absorbed by Samsung. I think B&O's DNA needs to be kept alive and only a like-minded company can help make that happen should it be acquired.
Does B&O need to refocus, or focus on one thing for the long haul? Focus on a technology which doesn't change every year (ie. not televisions). Focus on speakers, or something else. There's also the matter of sales / prices, which has been discussed ad nauseum -- it is a vicious cycle discussion and theory.
The idea of B&O not being B&O is upsetting to me.
BeoBoy68:Bang & Olufsen should focus simply on his core: Radio.
Let's not over re-act, the quote is "we will listen" and that's right, most companies would do that.
Until it is fact, it's just jumping at shadows.
:-)
BeoBoy68:As I thought from the beginning Tue Mantoni sank the company. He didn't understand Bang & Olufsen's spirit. Bad boy ! joke on
StUrrock: BeoBoy68: As I thought from the beginning Tue Mantoni sank the company. He didn't understand Bang & Olufsen's spirit. Bad boy ! joke on +1
BeoBoy68: As I thought from the beginning Tue Mantoni sank the company. He didn't understand Bang & Olufsen's spirit. Bad boy ! joke on
+1
My experience of Chief Execs is that they are all on some sort of overpaid circuit and rarely know much about the company they exploit for typically two to five years. It's very rare that you get someone with the right engineering or design background at the top. It's all about the personality and their ability to delegate, and their ability to always be able to sack someone lower down when a problem arises.
Usually they will also bring with them their own pet management consultant. It's all a recipe for disaster and the CEO eventually just moves on to another highly paid post elsewhere.
I have no idea whether any of this applies to Tue.
Even if it happens, it would not be the end of the world if it would be a "good marriage".
However, I can't imagine Samsung being a right choice. Their brand culture is just everyting B&O is not, and their aesthetic is vulgar and banal (plasticky and trashy).