Jabra
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1983 |
| Founder(s) | Woody Norris |
| Headquarters | Nashua, New Hampshire, U.S. |
| Industry | Consumer electronics |
| Products | Telecom/computing headsets, Audio equipment |
| Website | www.jabra.com |
Jabra is a maker of headsets for cellular telephones and other applications owned by Danish-based GN Netcom. The Jabra subsidiary is based in Nashua, New Hampshire, U.S..
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[edit] History
Jabra Corporation was founded in 1983 as Norcom Electronics Corporation, a Utah corporation, by inventor/entrepreneur Elwood "Woody" Norris.[1] From its inception, it was engaged in the development of ear-radio and ear-microphone technologies.
In September 1984, American Technology Corporation (ATC), a publicly traded corporation also founded by Woody Norris, acquired 100% of the outstanding shares of Norcom Electronics.[2]
In March 1988, ATC sold Norcom Electronics to Norris Communications, Inc. (NCI), another publicly-traded corporation founded by Woody Norris, in return for 700,000 shares of NCI common stock and a 1% royalty on gross sales of its EarPHONE product.[2]
NCI subsequently changed the name from Norcom Electronics to Jabra Corporation and began a process of spinning it off to two senior NCI employees; Randy Granovetter and Jennifer Blome.
[edit] Products
The company's original EarPHONE product operated on various versions of Macintosh and were used for voice recognition and early telephony applications. In 1994 Jabra introduced the Jabra 1000, an executive version of the EarPHONE intended for use with PBX systems.
The lack of a strong demand for Apple-compatible products, and the sonic limitations of the EarPHONE, together kept Jabra from being financially successful for several years. Not until mobile phones began to be commonplace, and in particular mobile phones with headset jacks, did the best application for the EarPHONE become apparent—its use as a mobile headset. Privately funded from 1996 until 2000, Jabra had a period of stunning growth.
[edit] Acquisition by GN Netcom
In September 2000 Jabra Corporation was acquired by GN Netcom, a division of the Danish company GN Great Nordic, also known as GN Store Nord in Danish. A 3-year contractual obligation kept Jabra's San Diego staff intact until late 2003. During that time, Jabra introduced a top-selling Bluetooth headset and the FreeSpeak / BT-200
GN Netcom closed the San Diego facility and moved all operations to Oak Brook, Illinois at the end of 2003. Since then the Jabra staff swelled from fewer than 30 to more than 300 between the US headquarters in Nashua, New Hampshire and the GN headquarters in Copenhagen.
[edit] References
- ^ Utah Business Entity Search, entity # 839976-014
- ^ a b American Technology Corporation Annual Report (10-K), 12/13/1996
