Monster Hypes New Headphones, Colors and Mobile Solutions

Noel Lee closed out the keynotes at IFA Sunday afternoon in true Monster fashion: lots of flashy young dancers wearing the latest Monster headphones in a variety of fresh colors; onstage visits by a few celebrities, and a glimpse at some new electronics, including a mini Bluetooth speaker and portable charging products the company will be pushing through its U.S. dealers.

Amidst all of the glitz and glimmer, though, the Head Monster mentioned the strength of the company’s global CE retail partners several times, thanking them for their support and asking the crowd to give them a hand.

“None of this could ever have happened without the retailers,” Lee said following his introductory speech, “The Headphone Revolution: How Did it Happen?”

The gesture could have seemed out of place during a keynote/performance aimed at introducing consumers to a few new headphones and colors, but it underscored the company’s increasing commitment to its dealer base.

In an earlier interview at the show, Lee said Monster will take the next few months to train its U.S. dealers on selling Monster’s new Powercard rechargeable batteries. The Powercard is about the size of a credit card and can be fully recharged in about three hours. They’ll start shipping in November and come in 1650, 4,000 and 6,000 mA versions, with a starting retail price of about $49.

“These are a line of products that make dealers profitable around the sale of tablets and smartphones,” Lee told Dealerscope. “They fit in well with screen cleaners, Bluetooth speakers and everything else they sell around tablets.”

A new line of Monster Digital “advanced memory and storage” products (not mentioned during the keynote) round out the mobile solutions offerings. Under the “Card for Life” warranty program, Monster will provide free content recovery and replace the device for free if it ever fails. One of the key products in the line, the Overdrive 3.0, began shipping around June. It comes in a variety of sizes starting at 256 GB ($249) up to 1 TB ($999). The line is aimed at professionals, including photographers, graphic artists, filmmakers and DJs.