Company Announcement No 2008-03 6 March 2008
Major product launches from Oticon and Bernafon 12:45pm CET
Today, William Demant Holding A/S announced that the Company's Hearing Aid
business will
introduce a wide range of significant products under its two hearing aid brands
Oticon and
Bernafon. These massive launch schedules will significantly strengthen the
Group's overall
product offering. The new products will be showcased at the AudiologyNOW! (AAA)
convention
to take place from 2 through 5 April 2008 in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
In the Premium segment, Oticon will significantly expand the market potential
of Epoq, by:
1. Introducing a new miniature RITE-based Power BTE - a cosmetically attractive
hearing aid for people with severe hearing losses who have so far not been able
to experience the unmatched audiological user benefits enabled by Epoq's unique
wireless ear-to-ear communication. The Power RITE BTE style will be available
to the market in summer 2008.
2. Introducing Epoq V, a complete, new product family offering wireless
features known from other manufacturers' Premium products, but at a more
attractive price point. Thus, Epoq V
offers excellent sound and a very compelling feature set and is also offered at
a price at the lower end of the Premium segment, thereby expanding the price
span of the entire Epoq family. This allows dispensers to target an even
broader segment of customers with a solution
offering user benefits that may otherwise only be found at the very high end of
the hearing aid market. Epoq V will be available in all styles and will be
released for sale at the time of AAA.
3. Adding new features to the entire Epoq product range, e.g. a new
anti-feedback system, matching the performance of the very best systems on the
market, and the opportunity to
use an FM receiver on the micro-BTE, which opens up new important possibilities
in the
paediatric segment.
In 2005, Oticon introduced Tego and Tego Pro, which probably became the world's
best-selling hearing aid families ever. At this year's AAA, the Group's already
strong position in the mid-market created by Tego will be strengthened further
by the introduction of Vigo and Vigo Pro, two full product families consisting
of premium hearing instruments offered at price points that enable more
cost-conscious end-users to benefit from state-of-the art hearing aid
technology. The two Vigo families are based on Oticon's ultra-fast RISE
architecture. The combination of more high-
end features, highly improved sound quality, very small BTEs and an easy,
straightforward fitting process sets Vigo and Vigo Pro apart from any other
product family in their segment. They are available in a broad range of colours
and in a full range of styles from small CICs to slim BTEs. Both families offer
a new Corda thin-tube solution and discreet RITE styles, providing users with
the best and most natural sound quality.
Vigo and Vigo Pro will be positioned in the upper mid-market at prices slightly
above Tego and Tego Pro, which are expected to continue as active products.
Vigo and Vigo Pro are suitable for
all types of hearing losses within the mild to severe range and will be
released for sale at the time of the AAA convention.
Vigo and Vigo Pro as well as Epoq V with its unique small BTE housing and the
possibility of DSL fitting and integration of a new small Amigo FM receiver all
offer great potential for paediatric
fittings. Also in connection with AAA, a new strong paediatric programme will
be launched to
support the fitting of children from infants to teenagers.
At AAA, a completely new upper mid-range hearing aid family will be introduced
under the Bernafon brand: the new product called MOVE offers advanced adaptive
functionality based on the user's lifestyle. The automatic program has a choice
of nine different signal processing modes. Furthermore, a new copy program
function and freely configurable programs make MOVE easy and fast to fit for
dispensers. The large range of BTEs includes a micro-BTE with a T-coil, and all
MOVE BTEs are suitable for open fitting by means of the modular thin-tube
system Spiraflex and come in attractive housing colours. MOVE will be released
for sale before summer 2008.
"I am very pleased and proud to announce that already now - shortly after the
great Epoq introduction - we are ready to introduce more new product families.
This will cement our leading position on the hearing aid market," says Niels
Jacobsen, President & CEO of William Demant Holding.
• • • • • • •
Further information:
Phone +45 39 17 71 00
www.demant.com
Contact person: Other contact persons:
Niels Jacobsen, President & CEO Stefan Ingildsen, Vice President, Finance & IR
Søren B. Andersson, IR Officer
