**UPDATE: Added official comments from Logitech and Ultimate Ears.  See below.**

Irvine’s Ultimate Ears announced it is being acquired by Logitech in Fremont for $34 million.

The union may seem strange — Ultimate Ears makes custom-fit earphones for rock stars and non-celebs willing to pay $1,000 or more. It also has a universal-fit line that starts below $100, plus it just introduced a children’s line, starting at $40.

Logitech is best known for computer mice, keyboards and web cams (although it too offers some nice, higher-priced mice). But Logitech has also been expanding its audio line of speakers and headphones and earphones.

Says the press release:

The acquisition of Ultimate Ears allows Logitech to expand its portfolio of digital audio products, providing more options for portable music listening. The company already offers a line of digital music speaker systems for in the home and on the go. Logitech is also a leading worldwide provider of speakers and headphones for PCs. And the company recently introduced a portable wireless speaker product for listening to music stored on Bluetooth mobile phones.

So far, the nearly 40 people at Ultimate Ears will remain intact in Irvine with Bob Allison still in charge. Employees found out today but someone at Logitech apparently knew a while ago –UE earphones are already listed on Logitech’s site:

**UPDATE:** I just spoke to Allison and he said that he and UE founder Mindy Harvey had both been eyeing the mainstream retail market to get the UE brand out there. A few years back, the company took its audio technnology and created universal earphones in the $100 to $300 range.  But as a small company, it needed a bigger partner to help get product out there.

“This certainly gives us a chance to bring our brand to the world,” Allison said. “Mindy and I have have this passion to deliver solutions to emerging bands as well as to mass markets. But building that scale was something we realized was difficult to do by ourselves.”

Enter Logitech, a multi-billion-dollar company. Logitech already has an audio line and even sells a set of $100 wireless headphones, which was built in-house thanks to its 2001 acquisition of Labtech in Vancouver, Wash. It’s a group that has grown from 40 to 130 people. But Logitech is constantly seeking ways to improve and grow every product line, said Gerald P. Quindlen, Logitech’s president and CEO, who was on the same call I had with Allison.

Logitech’s past acquisitions included Harmony Remote, Slim Devices and WiLife. All of these brands had suprior technology so Logitech scooped them up and put them out before a larger audience. Quindlen believes he can build the UE into a global brand.

“If we didn’t see a retail play (with UE), it wouldn’t make sense for us to buy them,” Quindlen said. “We do have a headphones line but frankly, the technology we’re getting with UE is far suprior. We do not hesitate to kill some of our own (pre-existing) products.”

So, the UE brand is not going away anytime soon. However, we may see something like “Ultimate Ears by Logitech.” As for the link to the rock-star world?

“We think of that more as a prize we got as part of buying this company,” Quindlen said.

For a brief history of Ultimate Ears, here’s an earlier story I wrote: “Ultimate Ears making its earmark.”

Related:

My Ultimate headphone experience (Gadgetress, June 6, 2006)

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.