Plantronics Announces New Line of Bluetooth Headsets

July 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Plantronics today unveiled the latest products in its award-winning Discovery and Explorer lines of Bluetooth headsets. Plantronics announced the details of each product line at the Plantronics Design: Body & Form event in New York City, reflecting the company's commitment to provide easy-to-use wireless headsets that embody excellent style, comfort and sound.

"Plantronics designs its products to effectively marry the intricacies of superior sound technology with fashionable design and comfort -- and does so in a very small and elegant package," said Renee Niemi, vice president of Mobile and Entertainment at Plantronics. "Our new lineup of Bluetooth headsets demonstrates this design philosophy and continues our legacy of providing consumers with reliable, intuitive and feature-rich products."

Plantronics Discovery Family: Premium Styling and Sound Innovation

The Plantronics Discovery 655 expands on the innovative design of previous Discovery headsets, featuring a new, fashionable look and comfortable ergonomic fit that complements the contours and lines of the human face. Weighing only 9 grams, the Discovery 655 also employs digital signal processing (DSP) to actively reduce background noise for crystal-clear conversations. The Discovery 655 includes a unique AAA charging pocket that provides up to 10 hours of talk time and a headset storage jacket with a vibrate ring indicator to offer a convenient way to charge, store and transport the headset. The headset also comes with a mini-USB adapter to charge from a PC or mobile phone power supply.

To give consumers more headset options, Plantronics also introduced the Discovery 640E, which reflects the design of the original Discovery 640 product and comes with fewer charging adapters at a reduced price. Meant for personal and professional use, the Discovery 655 and Discover 640E were designed with the tech-savvy, fashion-conscious consumer in mind.

Plantronics Explorer Family: Convenience and Ease of Use

Plantronics today also announced three new products under the Explorer headset line, aimed at first-time Bluetooth users. The new Explorer 330 reflects classic styling that fuses the freedom of wireless mobility with effortless call control. The Explorer 330 headset is easy to use and incorporates all call features -- volume, answer/end call, last-number redial, and voice-activated dialing -- into one single button.

The new Plantronics Explorer 340 and Explorer 350 feature new aggressive styling and multiple colors to provide consumers with more design options. For those customers needing a more flexible way to keep their headset charged, the Explorer 350 provides convenient in-car accessories for charging and stowing.

Putting Design First

Plantronics executives also announced details behind the company's evolving industrial design philosophy, driven by the ever-present challenge that Plantronics has addressed in bringing new products to market: how to combine superior sound technology with the fashion standards of apparel, jewelry or eyewear. This delicate and complex challenge is unique to headsets, as they represent the only technology device that people actually wear on their faces.

"At Plantronics human anatomy is the canvas on which we create new products, which is very unique to the consumer electronics industry," said Darrin Caddes, vice president of Corporate Design at Plantronics. "In many ways, we begin the design inspiration process by starting at the end: by examining where our final products will rest. If it doesn't look good on the human body, it isn't worth exploring."

At the event, Caddes highlighted the four complementary elements that guide Plantronics' design philosophy:

• Behavior. "The physical, the cognitive, the social, and the cultural factors that define human style and behavior. Behavior inspires us to examine life through the users' eyes."
  
• Body. "It is more than a factor in the design process, it is our canvas. We see the human form and its multitude of curves and lines as a landscape for symbiosis -- the pure and perfect partnership between physiology, technology and fashion."
  
• Build. "This is technology as you've never seen it before, where inspiration, color, ergonomics, proportion and surface development reveal Plantronics' competitive advantage."
  
• Beyond. "Creating new design paradigms. Anticipating customer needs before they exist. Plantronics constantly explores the realm of possibility for fashion and technology to stay on the cutting-edge and fulfill future customer desires."
  

Pricing and Availability

The Plantronics Discovery 655 and Discovery 640E headsets have manufacturer suggested retail prices (MSRPs) of $149.95 and $119.95, respectively. Both products will be available in August at www.plantronics.com and at retailers this fall.

The Plantronics Explorer 350 and Explorer 340 have MSRPs of $89.95 and $79.95, respectively. Both products will be available in August at www.plantronics.com and this fall at retailers, including Cingular and CompUSA. The Explorer 330 has an MSRP of $79.95 and will be available this fall at www.plantronics.com and at stores, such as RadioShack, T-Mobile and Target.

To learn more about Plantronics Design and the new fall products, please visit: www.plantronics.com/design.

SOURCE Plantronics, Inc.