Danish headset maker relaunches RP products

MANILA, Philippines A Danish company which used to make wireless headsets for call centers has reintroduced its products under the popular Jabra brand in the Philippines. The Philippines’ headset market “looks very promising," Copenhagen-based GN Netcom said, anticipating a huge demand for corporate headsets used in the call center sector. In a briefing last July 22, Shaz Khan, president and managing director of GN Netcom Asia Pacific, said that the burgeoning call center industry in the Philippines is creating a huge demand for products like corporate headsets. GN Netcom claimed it controls approximately 25 percent of the global mobile market and about 35-percent in the call center and office segments worldwide. Eight years ago, the company partnered with Comlan Inc, allowing the local firm to distribute its Jabra wireless headsets for mobile phones. In the Philippines, the Jabra brand is used by about 70 percent of the consumer market, while 50 percent of the call center industry uses GN Netcom headsets. The latter figure is expected to even go higher with the introduction of the Jabra brand in that segment. Based on its assessment, the company said the headset market in the country looks very promising. There are about 200 call centers operating locally with 30 of them having 1,000 seats or more. “The mid-sized call centers market is expected to grow. Also, leased call centers are becoming attractive for budget sensitive customers since it can minimize initial investment," it noted. The company cited an independent survey in 2007 which showed that the Philippines had the highest call center industry growth rate in the Asia Pacific region at 23 percent. Among the products that the enterprise market is expected to require are corded headsets, the company said. “There is an increase demand in the enterprise market for the corded headsets as more companies set up in-house helpdesk, and adopts in-house telemarketing department for campaigns both for marketing activities and others that require customer interface." During the launch event, Khan led the unveiling of the new headsets aimed at the local market. The four Jabra headsets—the M5390, GN9120, BT8040, and T5330—are all targeted at Filipino executives who need to answer landline calls away from their desks. The M5390 and BT 8040, in particular, belong to Jabra’s family of multiuse headsets. The M5390 can turn a desk phone into a mobile phone and it can be paired with two different devices at once. The BT8040, on the other hand, is dubbed the king of Jabra’s multiuse headsets. Capable of being paired with up to eight devices, it can take calls from various mobile phones, desk phones, a computer, or even listen to a music player. It even provides acoustic shock protection to shield to the ear from sudden loud noises. In 2006, GN Netcom manufactured 27 million headsets, which is equivalent to more than 50 units made every minute of the year, the company said. During that year, it became the first company to launch the dual-connection wireless headset for traditional and IP telephony. A year earlier, it was also the first firm to certify the world’s first Bluetooth 2.0 headset. Aside from making headsets for the mobile phones and call centers, the company also serves as an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) of headsets for mobile phone, PC, and PDA companies. The 139-year-old electronics firm, established in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1869, said it is upbeat on consumer market because the worldwide market for Bluetooth headsets is expected to rise nearly 161 million in 2010. A driver of growth, the company said, is music. Citing a research by Strategy Analytics, it is estimated that seven in ten of the billion phones forecast to be sold globally this year will have music playback capabilities. - GMANews.TV