Apple Back Selling Bose Sound Gear, Spat Over Beats Settled

In Australia Bose products are proving extremely popular at
JB Hi Fi stores and the return to Apple stores will see the popular SoundLink
Bluetooth Speaker III and SoundLink Mini Bluetooth Speaker back on sale.

In the period that the Bose products were out of Apple
stores specialist Hi Fi dealers saw a lift in demand for Bose products.

The Bose products are also back on the Apple website.

According to sources the exit saw Bose sales slump
“significantly” during the month that they were out of Apple stores.

In its lawsuit, which was filed in a federal court in the
USA Bose claimed that Amar Bose, the company’s founder, came up with the idea
for its noise-cancelling headphones in 1978 while on a plane.

Back then aircraft were significantly noisier than what they
are today.

Bose, reportedly found the headphones supplied by the
airline to be such a “great disappointment” that he “formulated
the basic concept and technology for a headphone that would not only reproduce
speech and music with high fidelity, but also simultaneously act to
significantly reduce unwanted cabin noise”.

Although neither company offered any explanation for either
the take-down or the reinstatement of Bose products, it is thought that the
move was connected to a patent dispute between Bose and Beats Electronics,
which Apple bought for $3.2bn in May.

Bose claimed that it had lost out on sales and profits
because Beats had breached five of its patents connected to noise-cancellation
technology, which blocks out background noise when listening to music on
headphones.

Bose and Beats eventually settled the dispute out of court,
with both companies asking the US International Trade Commission to terminate
its investigation.

In addition to the lawsuit, there was controversy in October
when an American football star was fined $10,000 for wearing Beats headphones
at a press conference. In the US Bose is the official headphone sponsor for the
NRL League.

The footballer was paid by Beats to endorse its headphones,
but Bose pays the NFL to ensure that players are not seen in press conferences
or stadiums wearing anything but their headphones.