LAS VEGAS, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Parrot, the market leader in
hands-free Bluetooth(R) car kits, is upping the ante in the mobile
electronics market with the introduction of four hot new products this week
at the Specialty Equipment Market Association's (SEMA) annual show --
including a new high- performance car stereo with an integrated Bluetooth
car kit, two new music kits with audio streaming, and a hands-free cell
phone solution for motorcyclists.
In addition, Parrot is supporting its retailer and installer partners
with the launch of a line of plug-and-play wiring harnesses to speed
installation, and a steering wheel harness solution that allows existing
OEM steering wheel controls to be used to operate car kits on many
vehicles.
All can be seen at Booth # 11142 in the mobile electronics section in
the Las Vegas Convention Center's North Hall.
"Parrot has been riding the Bluetooth wave and capturing market share
this year while raising consumer awareness of the hands-free advantage of
Bluetooth," says Ed Valdez, president and COO of Parrot, Inc. "With the new
products we're introducing at SEMA such as our flagship Parrot RK8200
stereo, we expect to continue strong sales in 2008. Our hands-free car kit
portfolio continues to be second to none in the world, giving our
distributors and retailers the most competitive and innovative products
available."
New Bluetooth Car Stereo
Headlining Parrot's new products is the new Parrot RK8200 car stereo
with integrated hands-free Bluetooth car kit. This full-featured AM-FM RDS
stereo has a 4 x 45 watt amp, an internal memory that holds up to 300 MP3
tracks, plus total connectivity for music with a specific iPod(R)
connector, SD card reader, USB port for flash drives, an input jack for
analog devices, as well as Bluetooth A2DP audio streaming capability.
As a car kit, the Parrot RK8200's capabilities are unsurpassed,
bringing the most advanced hands-free functions together in a simple and
easy to use interface. The kit has automatic phonebook synchronization,
complete call records, an amazing total storage capacity of 8,000 contacts,
and hands-free call functionality through voice recognition and special
Parrot voice synthesis (Text-to-Speech) that reads the names of your
contacts to you.
To ensure crystal-clear conversations, the Parrot RK8200's dual
microphone makes use of echo cancellation and Parrot's innovative new
Dynamic Choice of Best Microphone (DCBM) noise reduction technology. DCBM
detects the position of the person speaking and dynamically chooses the
best microphone to use.
Like all Parrot car-kits, the Parrot RK8200 is compatible with
virtually all Bluetooth mobile phones on the market.
"Parrot is offering all of these features in one integrated unit with
no optional add-ons required to get Bluetooth capability," explains Valdez.
"And the RK8200 is complete at an MSRP of only $279.99."
The Parrot RK8200 will be available in the second quarter of 2008.
Plug-and-play Music Kit
In addition, Parrot is introducing the PMK 5800, a Bluetooth/FM-based
portable plug-and-play device that slips into a vehicle's 12-volt accessory
outlet. It will handle both hands-free phone calls -- and music streamed
from a Bluetooth A2DP-enabled device like a smartphone or iPod, or via a
wired mini-USB connection. Calls and music are transmitted via an FM signal
to the vehicle's stereo. The PMK 5800 starts shipping in November with an
MSRP of $119.99.
Next-Generation Installed Music Kit
Parrot is also introducing its next generation of installed car kit
that accepts streaming music. As the successor to the Parrot MK6000, the
MK6100 adds new features like a removable (for security) OLED display that
mounts on the dash and displays phone and music files. It also has steering
wheel controls for fingertip control of the phone book and music play list.
It retails for $299.99 and will start shipping in November.
A Hands-Free Kit for Motorcyclists
Rounding out Parrot's products being introduced at SEMA is a new
helmet- mounted hands-free kit for motorcyclists. "With more than 6 million
motorcycles in the U.S., we think there's a good market for hands-free cell
phone and music devices for motorcyclists that's just waiting to be
tapped," says Valdez.
The SK4000 is a Bluetooth hands-free motorcycle kit that features FM
RDS radio and a wireless mobile remote control unit for the handlebars. The
unit allows the motorcyclist to listen to FM radio, stream music wirelessly
via a Bluetooth stereo-enabled device or transfer it via mini-USB cable.
The SK4000 uses Parrot's new multi-user voice recognition software
which eliminates the need to record voice tags: the kit will recognize the
contact's name spoken by whoever is using the kit and will dial the number
automatically. Also, the unique Text-To-Speech (TTS) voice synthesis
feature on the Parrot SK4000 reads contact names from the user's phonebook
through the earpiece and will also audibly identify radio stations to help
the driver select a station.
The SK4000's built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery allows 10 hours
of talk time. The unit will be available in the second quarter of 2008 with
an MRSP of $189.99.
New Harness Solutions for Installers
Additionally, Parrot is developing a line of plug-and-play harness
solutions for installers to facilitate the installation of its car kits.
The company will also show two new steering wheel wiring solutions that
installers and consumers will both appreciate.
The Parrot MULTICAN and MULTICOMM solutions (depending on the vehicle's
electrical bus type) enable the use the existing steering wheel mounted
control buttons to control a Parrot Bluetooth(R) hands-free car kit and
vehicle stereo receiver. There are no additional visible parts to install,
and when used with the Parrot CK3000, these solutions eliminate the need
for the on-dash user interface for a more OEM-like appearance.
The MULTICAN and MULTICOMM are available for both the Parrot CK3000
EVOLUTION and Parrot CK3100 LCD and retail for $99.99 and $94.88
respectively.
Parrot is the world's leading manufacturer of car kits and markets
worldwide a full line of portable and professionally installed car kits and
music kits.
ABOUT PARROT
Founded in 1994, Parrot has rapidly established itself as a pivotal
global player for wireless mobile telephone accessories. Drawing on its
tried-and- tested expertise on voice recognition and signal processing
technologies, Parrot was one of the very first companies to produce
Bluetooth(R)-based wireless hands free car kits, having identified this
standard's vast potential as early as 1999. In 2006, Parrot sold about 3
million units. Determined to accompany the wireless peripherals'
irresistible breakthrough into our day-to- day lives, Parrot has been
developing since 2006 a new wireless range of sound and image products.
Today, Parrot truly has a major international focus: 90.5% of its sales
are generated outside of France, and a large percentage of its production
is outsourced to carefully selected partners, enabling it to achieve the
best possible level of quality and responsiveness. Parrot is now
particularly well positioned to capitalize on the bright future opening up
for mobile telephone devices. Parrot has achieved strong growth in its
consolidated revenues, up from 80.9 million Euros pro forma in 2005 to
166.9 million Euros in 2006.
http://www.parrot.com
(R)The Bluetooth word mark and logos are owned by the Bluetooth SIG,
Inc. and any use of such marks by Parrot S.A. is under license. Other
trademarks and trade names are those of their respective owners.
SOURCE Parrot
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Related links:
http://www.parrot.com
CONTACT:
Alison Koski, Media Relations of TEXT 100,
+1-212-331-8436, alisonk@text100.com; or Mike Hedge, Marketing &
Communications of Parrot, Inc., +1-248-789-8976,
mike.hedge@parrot.com
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