Digital Home Thoughts: Logitech Acquires Slim Devices

"Logitech International today announced that it has acquired Slim Devices, Inc., a pioneer in the development of music systems that take advantage of a home network. Products from Slim Devices, such as the acclaimed Squeezebox™ and the recently announced Transporter™, enable people to enjoy high-quality digital music, in multiple rooms of the home, regardless of whether the music is streaming directly from the Internet, or from a PC, Mac, or storage device on the network. Logitech purchased the privately held Slim Devices of Mountain View, Calif. for $20 million in cash plus a possible performance-based payment, tied to reaching certain future revenue targets. “With the acquisition of Slim Devices, Logitech is building on our foundation of innovation in digital music and home-entertainment control to address an emerging market,” said Guerrino De Luca, Logitech president and chief executive officer."

This can only be a good thing. Why? When I went looking for network music players a few months ago for a friend, I decided that the Slim Devices unit was the best one. The problem? They have essentially zero retail presence in Canada - I was instructed to order it from a music store in Edmonton, a city three hours north of me. The Slim Devices product might rock, but if they can't get it into my local Best Buy, it's not going to matter. Logitech has excellent retail channel representation, so it will finally happen.