FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif., Oct. 5, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Oakley, Inc. (NYSE:OO) today announced the expansion of its successful line of digital music eyewear with the launch of THUMP 2. Rendered with the aggressive styling of the company's GASCAN(TM) eyewear, THUMP 2 is available with up to 1.0 GB of flash memory -- enough storage capacity for approximately 240 songs in a design that fully integrates a music system with an eyewear frame.
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"Creating the world's first digital audio eyewear required a new way of thinking," said Oakley President Colin Baden. "The idea was to combine a music player with something you're already wearing, and do it in a way that eliminated cords and wires that dangle and tangle. We're now taking the freedom and convenience of our original invention to a new level by offering THUMP 2 with a full gigabyte of skip-free memory.
"We took the subminiature circuitry of our premier THUMP and halved its size while maintaining its world-class audio fidelity, and redesigned the speaker booms to have six directions of movement for a fully adaptable fit," concluded Baden. "In addition to the world-class technology of our original invention, the styling takes its inspiration from our successful GASCAN(TM) eyewear frame, a hard-edged architecture that combines a definitive fashion statement with the patented performance of XYZ Optics(R)."
The main benefit of Oakley's lightweight, fully integrated music eyewear is complete user freedom to enjoy music during activities where tethered players with cords and separate base units can be cumbersome, or even dangerous. Both the original THUMP and the new THUMP 2 feature a 75 megahertz digital signal processor (DSP) and an 18-bit sigma delta digital-to-analog converter (DAC).
Permanently attached to the frame with miniature, dual-joint elbow booms, the fully adjustable speakers can swing away whenever the wearer needs to hear the environment. Frequency response covers the full range of human hearing, from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. A hi-speed USB 2.0 cable is included for transferring songs from Mac(R) or Windows(R) PC, and customers can take advantage of additional accessories such as the OAKLEY Car Charger. In addition to MP3, WMA and WAV file formats, Oakley's THUMP 2 is also compatible with iTunes(R) files in AAC format (.m4a). Additional information can be found at www.oakley.com/thump
Oakley THUMP 2 Availability
The new THUMP 2 will be available October 28 at the following select retail locations: Circuit City, CompUSA, Good Guys, Sports Chalet, Sunglass Hut and Ultimate Electronics, as well as Oakley's O Stores, www.oakley.com and Iacon sunglass specialty locations. THUMP 2 will be available in the following frame, lens and memory combinations:
Frame Color Lens Memory MSRP
----------- -------------- ------ ----
Black Black Iridium 1 GB $449
(non-polarized)
White Black Iridium 512 MB $349
(non-polarized)
Black Black Iridium 512 MB $349
(non-polarized)
Brown Smoke Bronze 256 MB $299
(non-polarized)
Black Gray 256 MB $299
(non-polarized)
In conjunction with the launch of THUMP 2, the company also announced consistent pricing on its original THUMP model effective October 5 with all 256MB models (polarized or non-polarized) at $299 and 512MB (non-polarized) at $349.
About Oakley, Inc.
Oakley: a world brand, driven to ignite the imagination through the fusion of art and science. Building on its legacy of innovative, market-leading premium sunglasses, the company offers a full array of products including prescription eyewear, performance apparel and accessories, footwear, watches and electronics to consumers in more than 100 countries. Trailing-12-month net sales through June 30, 2005 totaled $615.3 million and generated net income of $49.0 million. Oakley, Inc. press releases, SEC filings and the company's annual report are available at www.oakley.com.
Safe Harbor Disclaimer
This press release contains certain statements of a forward-looking nature. Such statements are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to growth and strategies, future operating and financial results, financial expectations and current business indicators are based upon current information and expectations and are subject to change based on factors beyond the control of the company. Forward-looking statements typically are identified by the use of terms such as "may," "will," "should," "might," "believe," "plan," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate" and similar words, although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently. The accuracy of such statements may be impacted by a number of business risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated, including but not limited to: the acceptance in the marketplace of the company's new product introductions; the company's ability to maintain approved vendor status and continue to receive product orders from the U.S. military; the company's ability to integrate and operate acquisitions, the company's ability to manage rapid growth; risks related to the limited visibility of future sunglass orders associated with the company's "at once" production and fulfillment business model; the ability to identify qualified manufacturing partners; the ability to coordinate product development and production processes with those partners; the ability of those manufacturing partners and the company's internal production operations to increase production volumes on raw materials and finished goods in a timely fashion in response to increasing demand and enable the company to achieve timely delivery of finished goods to its retail customers; the ability to provide adequate fixturing to existing and future retail customers to meet anticipated needs and schedules; the dependence on eyewear sales to Luxottica Group S.p.A, which, as a major competitor, could materially alter or terminate its relationship with the company; the company's ability to expand and grow its distribution channels and its own retail operations; unanticipated changes in general market conditions or other factors, which may result in cancellations of advance orders or a reduction in the rate of reorders placed by retailers; a weakening of economic conditions could continue to reduce demand for products sold by the company and could adversely affect profitability, especially of the company's retail operations; terrorist acts, or the threat thereof, could adversely affect consumer confidence and spending, could interrupt production and distribution of product and raw materials and could, as a result, adversely affect the company's operations and financial performance; the ability of the company to integrate licensing arrangements without adversely affecting operations and the success of such initiatives; the ability to continue to develop and produce innovative new products and introduce them in a timely manner; reductions in sales of products, either as the result of economic or other conditions or reduced consumer acceptance of a product, could result in a buildup of inventory; the ability to source raw materials and finished products at favorable prices to the company; the potential impact of periodic power crises on the company's operations including temporary blackouts at the company's facilities; foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; earthquakes or other natural disasters; the company's ability to identify and execute successfully cost control initiatives; and other risks outlined in the company's SEC filings, including but not limited to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004 and other filings made periodically by the company. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The company undertakes no obligation to update this forward-looking information. Nonetheless, the Company reserves the right to make such updates from time to time by press release, periodic report or other method of public disclosure without the need for specific reference to this press release. No such update shall be deemed to indicate that other statements not addressed by such update remain correct or create an obligation to provide any other updates.
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