Logitech 2003 Annual Report Download - page 25

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to the mobile world, to wherever and whenever people interact with digital platforms - the need for personal interface
products will broaden. The Company’s product family now includes internet imaging devices such as webcams, mice
and trackballs, keyboards, speakers and headsets, interactive gaming controllers, and 3D control devices.
Logitech offers rich and varied access to the world of digital information. The Company’s products provide
user-centric solutions intended to be easy to install and easy to use, many of them combined with integrated software
for seamless compatibility and added functionality. These products allow users to personalize and enrich their
computing environment, and to easily operate in a variety of applications.
Logitech's personal interface products are often the most frequent point of physical interaction between people
and the digital world. As such, they are a significant factor in determining the man-machine interface and increasing
its richness. The Company’s products are designed to reflect the way people want to work, play and communicate,
allowing them to personalize and enrich their digital experience.
Over the past 20 years, Logitech has established itself as a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of
computer control devices (mice and trackballs). Building on this leadership position, the Company has capitalized on
the growth in personal computing by significantly expanding its product line to include a wide range of products,
from radio-based cordless input devices to keyboards, digital imaging devices such as web-cams, multimedia speaker
systems and PC voice access products. In addition, the Company now produces interface devices for alternate
computing platforms, going beyond the traditional desktop to include gaming controllers for console systems, as well
as products for the mobile environment such as the digital pen. In every case, the Company’s products bring together
the tools that business people, home users, and computer gamers need to make their time at the computer and their
time on the Internet more productive, comfortable, and enjoyable. In addition, they feature award-winning industrial
design and are engineered to work together.
Through integrated hardware and software functionality, Logitech products are optimized for the internet:
internet web cameras enabling “one button” video instant messaging; keyboards and mice that are one click away
from the internet; and most recently, software-enabled access to public and private web-cams directly from a mobile
phone. These are all examples of the Company’s commitment to ensuring a user-friendly and effective Internet
experience.
Logitech’s OEM products are a frequent choice among PC manufacturers, who need high quality, affordable, and
functional personal interface products in high volumes.
The Company’s retail products increasingly target and appeal directly to consumers and businesses as they
purchase add-on devices for their PCs. Purchasers look for these add-ons to either replace the basic peripherals that
originally came with their PCs with devices that offer increased comfort, flexibility and functionality, or as they
decide to enable new applications requiring dedicated devices (for example, steering wheels and joysticks for PC and
console-based games).
Logitech has long been at the forefront of technological innovation, with a list of more than 50 industry “firsts”
to its name and a patent portfolio of more than 90 patents. In pointing devices, the Company led in optical sensing
technology with the opto-mechanical mouse in 1982, and the first cordless optical mouse in 2001. The Company was
also among the first to market a digital still camera in 1991.
The Company has continually embraced new connectivity technologies and standards. Logitech demonstrated
the first working USB prototype at Fall Comdex in 1995. In addition, the Company pioneered digital radio-based
cordless mice and keyboards and introduced the first Bluetooth™-based peripheral as well as additional proprietary
high-bandwidth cordless devices.
Logitech will continue to monitor the connectivity environment, in order to optimize the user experience when
interfacing with digital information.
The Company believes the following to be among its key competitive strengths:
• Substantial Technical Expertise. Logitech has accumulated significant expertise in the key engineering
disciplines that underlie its products. For instance, Logitech's engineers have continuously enhanced motion-
encoding technology for control devices over several distinct generations. Many of these technologies have
applications across multiple product offerings, allowing the Company to leverage its accumulated technology
investment.
Logitech believes its future lies not only in its strong internal technical resources, but also from partnering with
other industry leaders with complementary technologies that promise to make the interface more productive,
natural and enjoyable. Examples of this include devices that provide enhanced realism by incorporating force
feedback or optical sensing.