Mashups aren’t just for the web. If nothing else, the Audex Jacket, a bluetooth enabled high tech piece of outerwear co-developed by Motorola and Burton proves that fact with panache. I can’t count the number of times I tried to configure electronic gear and sporting attire (for me cycling gear) in such a way that I could hear my music and not have to stop to turn it up or down or change tracks or make some other adjustment. With the heavy gloves and multiple layers snowboarding and other winter sports demand this would be impossible. Especially if you want to protect your expensive iPod or Razr phone at the same time.
To solve this problem, two technology leaders, Burton and Motorola have teamed up to create the stylish and functional Audex Jacket as well as the “Tantrum Audex Helmet”. Designed foremost for the snowboarder, the jackets sport a control console on the sleeve that allow you to fully control both your bluetooth enabled cellular phone as well as all recent iPods. Speakers built into the hood essentially turn your parka into a wearable boombox. The control feature set appears to be reasonably complete with caller id, one touch dialing, a backlight for low light situations as well as volume controls and a mic for phone calls.
Without personally testing it, I can’t really comment about sound quality though my expectation is it is probably average at best as the size of the speakers and their distribution neither provides the isolation of a good in-ear headphone (like the Shure product) or the dynamic range of a more powerful blox speaker. For it’s intended use though, I’m sure it is more than adequate, after all the slopes are hardly an audiophile’s choice of location.
As for the jacket designs; they appear to be reasonably stylish and while they aren’t going to win any fashion awards, I don’t think that anyone would laugh you off the mountain should you hit the slopes with one, although a few of the characters outfits in the longish video that runs on the Burton/Audex site promoting the gear looked a little city coming up out of the Brooklyn subway.
Speaking of the demo video, while I am all for showing a product in action as a means of helping a consumer understand the many functions and features, I do have a word for the Burton/Audex folks; respect the time constraints of your customers. The video should do the job in sixty seconds not require full ten to fifteen minutes to demonstrate half a dozen compelling features. This didn’t need to be a story, and the fact that it tries to be one, would have lost me as a customer had I been one instead of someone checking this out for a story I was writing. In short, it was too long - about 95% too long.
Closing thoughts; this is in my opinion part of what we’ll begin seeing as another broad trend predicted by Howard Rheingold in his seminal work, Smart Mobs, I predict ( I think this makes it number 22 or 23 for the MobHappy Predictions for 2006) that we’ll be seeing more and more tech-integrated clothing this year and that the integration will become smarter, more fashionable, and that we may even see a breakthrough product that everyone “has to have” by year end. Give me bonus points for this one if a famous designer is the purveyor of the breakthrough product.
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