Plantronics 2008 Annual Report Download - page 10

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Markets
Our ACG products are designed to meet the needs of specific markets and applications such as office (ranging from enterprise to
home office), contact centers, mobile devices such as cell phones and PDAs, computer and gaming, residential and other specialty
applications. These markets and applications are increasingly overlapping as work styles and lifestyles change, and people use
devices for multiple applications such as communication, music, and video entertainment. Plantronics serves these markets through
our following product groups:
Office and Contact Center
The office market comprises our largest revenue stream with a broad range of communications headsets, including high-end,
ergonomically designed headsets, audio processors, and telephone systems. Growth in this market comes from two main factors:
· the adoption of wireless solutions and the freedom they allow; and
· a growing awareness of the benefits of headsets.
We believe the contact center market is our second largest revenue stream and most mature market. We believe that the long-term
outlook for the contact center is one of modest growth. We expect that contact centers will increasingly adopt VoIP technology to
help improve productivity and reduce costs. We develop headsets specifically tailored to VoIP applications, and, as VoIP adoption
increases, we believe that we will continue to lead in new product performance.
Mobile
Mobile represents our largest unit volume market and provides a significant opportunity for growth, especially now that we have
largely completed the transition from corded to Bluetooth products for mobile phone applications. Use of headsets is growing
worldwide, particularly due to continued Bluetooth technology adoption and hands-free legislation for cell phones. As headsets
become more mainstream, users are becoming more fashion conscious and style has become as important as functionality and
technology. Our mobile headsets merge technological innovations with style.
Entertainment and Computer Audio
Entertainment and Computer Audio headsets, whether they are used for interactive on-line gaming or switching between music and
phone calls for multi-functional devices, represent an emerging market opportunity for us.
We believe that a number of fundamental factors are likely to increase our customers’ need for PC-compatible headsets in the future,
including the convergence of telephony and entertainment, internet multimedia applications such as streaming audio and video, VoIP,
gaming, and video conferencing. As devices providing these user needs converge, our headsets may need to be PC-compatible, cell
phone compatible, MP3 compatible or various combinations of these. We are monitoring our product roadmap to meet these potential
future customer requirements.
Home and Home Office (“H2O”)
Home and home office represents an emerging market. Telephone usage in these environments often requires mobility, the
performance of multiple tasks, and work-at-home lifestyle. We expect the use of headsets in this market to increase with the growth in
home offices, remote workers, and professionals working from home.
Specialty Products
Our specialty products address the unique needs of various consumer groups, one of which is the increasing number of people
suffering from hearing loss worldwide. Clarity offers a comprehensive range of communications products that serve the mild,
moderate, and severe hearing loss markets as well as the deaf community. Product distribution includes specialized distributors, retail,
government programs, audiologists and other health care professionals.