Hero of the High-Design Headset

BusinessWeek profiles Darrin Caddes, vice-president of corporate design at Plantronics (PLT), and the company's efforts to use design as a key distinguishing factor for it headsets, specifically in the burgeoning Bluetooth market.

The article cites a survey from Strategy Analytics that "states that 33 million Bluetooth headsets for mobile phones were sold globally in 2005, an increase of 153% from the year before. The survey predicted that sales would grow 70% in 2006. Plantronics has ranked third in the global Bluetooth headset market with 12.3% of sales, compared with Motorola's (MOT ) 28.2 % and the 16.3% of GN Store Nord's Jabra brand."

One market Plantronics is targeting are females. Seamus McAteer at M:Metrics said, "Motorola sold 664,000 pink RAZRs so far. That's a lot of very specifically targeted handsets. Potentially, there could be a huge market for headsets for women, too."