Consumer electronics designed specifically for women -- it's long been a
category marked by unsuccessful products.
Back in 2008 Dell launched its Della campaign, which marketed pink and red
laptops to women. Then there was the HTC Rhyme Android smartphone, which came
only in a purple hue and with a purse charm. Most recently there was the ePad
Femme, a pink-colored Android tablet designed for women.
But headphone maker Koss might have finally cracked the gadget-for-women
challenge -- it has done more than just change the color on its new headphones
for women. The Wisconsin-based company has teamed up with Olympic swimmer Dara
Torres to create the FitClips, a pair of fitness earbuds that say right on the
box they've been "designed for women by women."
"Every once in a while I would hear from women that their headphones didn't
fit," Koss President and CEO Michael J. Koss told ABC News. "For the most part,
women are generally smaller than men and they have smaller ears. We thought it
would be a good idea to take a look at designing earbuds with that in mind."
Koss was connected with Torres through mutal friends and together they
teamed up to solve the problem of fit for female ears, without sacrificing
function or quality. The $30 earbuds have been designed with smaller buds and
with a more comfortable and malleable clip, but not at the expense of the audio
quality.
"Sound was very important. When you reduce the size of the earbud, you
reduce the quality of the sound," Torres told ABC News in a joint interview with
Koss. "They had to work hard to figure out how to make a small bud and get it so
the sound quality was as good as the other earbuds out there."
Torres also made something else very clear: these are not like other
celebrity earbuds. Sure, everyone from Snooki to Tim Tebow has their name on the
designer audio equipment, but the 12-time Olympic medalist was very involved in
the design and product development and refused to just change the design and
color of the earbuds.
"Making a product for women by just changing a color or something isn't
really making a product for women," she said. "They sent me prototypes and I
would tell them what I liked and what I didn't like and gave feedback on
comfort. It wasn't just some guys putting some headphones together -- they were
really designed by women."
The earbuds come in five colors, ranging from a coral to blue to a mint
green.
Other earbuds have been made for women in the past, but not by such a big
name. Yurbuds makes a pair of earbuds that were "inspired for women." They, too.
are designed for smaller ears.
Torres' photo is front and center on the box, as is the phrase "designed
for women by women." And while it is usually very easy to find female critics of
women-aimed-gadgets, experts say Koss has gone about the FitClips in a very
smart way.
"While these are colorful, they aren't pink and there are a lot of
options," Karena Cameron of Femme Den, a design lab focused on the female
consumer, told ABC News. "And they really considered the context -- they are
calling out the audio quality isn't being compromised."
Femme Den is a group within the Smart Design agency.
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