Logitech has announced that it is buying Slim Devices for $10m cash plus a possible performance-based payment tied to certain revenue targets. The news came on the same day as their best-ever Q2 sales, which reached $502m.
Slim Devices has been selling their Squeezebox WiFi music player since 2004, continuing to improve the product through subsequent releases. The device pulls music from PCs, distributing it via Ethernet, or Wirelessly about the home.
Latterly they’ve moved into the higher ground of products, by bringing out the Transporter. Featuring high quality components, it also differs from the Squeezebox by actually have some controls on it, as well as a remote control.
Logitech currently sell some devices for playing digital music from your PC, as SlimDevices does, but they haven’t exactly set the market on fire.
Junien Labrousse, Logitech SVP of the Entertainment and Communication Business Unit explained their reasoning for the purchase, “One of the main reasons for this acquisition is the development capabilities of the Slim Devices team. The technical level of this group is a key asset that we fully intend to leverage.” He also confirmed the concerns of some of Slim Devices current customers “[they] will function independently, keeping the spirit of advance audio technology and strong product innovation.”
We think it’s a good move by Logitech, as Slim makes good-looking devices and Logitech generally don’t. As well as the technology they’ll be gaining, we hope that they’ll also focus the product design within the Slim Devices team.
Logitech has the ability to take Slim Devices music players through their considerable retail connections, moving slim from the Geeks favorite, to a mainstream products.