Sound Solutions From Space

How Plantronics evolved to become a major player in the sports headphone industry.

- Lionel Kong

The wireless sports headphone segment is a crowded, competitive, and fast-moving space. It’s interesting to note that one of the bigger players in this segment originally did not even have a sporting background.

The recent history of Plantronics sports headphones began with the BackBeat Go, released in 2012. It is arguably the first production sports wireless headphone to gain popular mass appeal with its steady Bluetooth connection and durable pod design. Today the Plantronics BackBeat series has expanded to feature a wide range of sports headphones to suit every training niche, but the American brand actually got its start in telecommunications devices, where it still holds a large market share to this day.

In the Beginning The story goes that in the early 1960s, Keith Larkin was working in a company called Plane-Aids that imported sunglasses with miniature AM transistors fitted to their bows. The company eventually attracted the attention of United Airlines, who were seeking lightweight and more comfortable alternatives for the headsets their pilots were using.