Team Nominated for 'Best Merchandising' Award at 2007 RetailVision Conference
Bellevue, WA – October 15, 2007 – The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) Retail Committee, formed earlier this year, is bringing together the organization's member companies to design, fund, and implement materials both in stores and for online retailers to properly showcase all that Bluetooth wireless products can do. A team from the SIG, Broadcom, Newton Peripherals and Motorola, with additional product support from HP and Nokia, was honored with a nomination for 'Best Merchandising' initiative by the top 100 North American electronics retailers at the 2007 RetailVision Conference.
"The Retail Committee was developed to promote awareness and education of Bluetooth enabled products to mainstream electronics stores and their support staff, who have direct interaction with consumers," said Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth SIG. "The overwhelming positive response the Retail Committee team received at the 2007 RetailVision Conference demonstrates the need for a neutral organization like the SIG to take the reigns and steer direct-to-consumer communications."
The Bluetooth SIG Retail Committee worked with design firm Binary Pulse over the past two months preparing adaptable merchandising tools allowing retailers to take advantage of cross-merchandising opportunities and help customers make more informed decisions about products. The Retail Committee is currently focusing on the products retailers already carry, but are difficult for customers to make use of or find. Retailers seized upon the advantage of the Bluetooth SIG using its role as a trade association to promote awareness of Bluetooth products in stores and multiple leading electronics retailers expressed interest in implementing the Retail Committee's recommendations for signs, online instructional pages and videos, and even 'end cap' displays in stores on a very aggressive schedule.
"Bluetooth wireless technology is becoming the standard for personal area networks – if you just have a Bluetooth enabled laptop you can't really appreciate the numerous applications Bluetooth technology allows," said Matthew Westover, Newton Peripherals' President and Chief Executive Officer., Newton Periphials. "Suggestions from the Retail Committee will encourage mainstream electronics stores to 'package' Bluetooth enabled products – showing the above mentioned Bluetooth enabled laptop with a compatible Bluetooth enabled mouse, keyboard, phone and printer, educating the consumer and showing them options at the same time."
"From innovative video game controllers to an ever expanding ecosystem of convenient wireless peripherals and printers, Bluetooth is driving the evolution of how consumers interact with new generations of electronic devices," said Scott Bibaud, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Wireless Personal Area Networking business unit. "Broadcom is proud to be working closely with the SIG to educate consumers on these developments and to be supplying products that deliver on the promise of Bluetooth technology."
To learn more about the Retail Committee's plans or to get your company and products involved, contact Sean Meckley, Retail Committee Chair, at retail-chair@bluetooth.org. Bluetooth SIG members can visit the Retail Committee homepage on www.bluetooth.org to see more details on the committee's work.
About Bluetooth® Wireless Technology
Bluetooth wireless technology is the global short-range wireless standard for personal connectivity of a broad range of electronic devices. The technology is now available in its fourth version of the core specification and continues to develop, building on its inherent strengths – small-form factor radio, low power, low cost, built-in security, robustness, ease-of-use, and ad hoc networking abilities. More than five new Bluetooth enabled products are qualified every working day and 13 million Bluetooth units are shipping per week. The installed base of Bluetooth devices is 1.5 billion and climbing, making it the only proven choice for developers, product manufacturers, and consumers worldwide.
About the Bluetooth SIG
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), comprised of leaders in the telecommunications, computing, consumer electronics, automotive and network industries, is driving development of Bluetooth wireless technology and bringing it to market. The Bluetooth SIG includes Promoter group companies Ericsson, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia and Toshiba, along with over 9,000 Associate and Adopter member companies. The Bluetooth SIG, Inc. headquarters are located in Bellevue, Washington, U.S.A. For more information please visit www.bluetooth.com.
The Bluetooth word mark and logo are registered trademarks and are owned by the Bluetooth SIG, Inc.
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PRESS CONTACTS:
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Starr Million Baker
INK Public Relations for the Bluetooth SIG
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Europe, Middle East, Africa
Danny Devriendt
Porter Novelli for the Bluetooth SIG
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