Virgin Electronics, a new division of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group have opened new offices and launched a new product: the Virgin Electronics Wearable 128mb MP3 Player.
The US$99 (€80) player isn’t competing with the iPod as it only holds about 40 songs. Instead, it’s going for convenience, size and simplicity.
“When we called it the Wearable 128MB MP3 player, we meant wearable. The product is so small and light it can be worn comfortably around the neck, arm—anywhere. No pockets required.” said Joe Sipher, senior vice president of marketing for Virgin Electronics.
The device doesn’t require a power adaptor – it charges from the USB connection to Mac or PC. The user interface is extremely simple too – two buttons control everything. Virgin’s digital music store is expected to launch later on in the summer, and no doubt there will be interesting tie-ins between the new player and the store.
Virgin Electronics’ second release is a pair of noise-cancelling headphone – you can see where they’re going with this can’t you? The US$40 headphones are amongst the cheapest available, but Virgin are keen to stress that they are high quality devices. No doubt both pieces of equipment will be coming to an in-flight magazine near you soon.
Virgin Electronics have also just moved into new offices in Silicon Valley, upping sticks from New York. Virgin’s new appointments will be filling those nice premises – Greg Woock as CEO (formerly Handspring and Creative Labs) and Joe Sipher was once an exec at Handspring and Palm.
