50 Cent is a proven business man, but his SMS Audio venture has not been able to compete with bigger headphone brands like Dr. Dre's Beats. However, Fif has stuck with it, and has recently announced that the company will be partnering with a major tech brand in the near future.
His business partner, Brian Nohe explained the plans for the company to the Wall Street Journal. "We're working with a major technological company and soon to announce a very major new product," he said.
Nohe went on to explain how Beats and SMS can co-exist. "There's certainly enough room for major players in this category," he argued. "The industry is evolving to really look at the delivery system, the headphone device, the iPhone or Android smart tablet, and they're starting to see these things as an ecosystem that you work with. So, yea, there's plenty of room out there."
50 himself also spoke on how music has served as a for of adevtising for some time. "It's the things we've been doing for a long time without being conscious of it," he said. "Like the major companies–Ferrari, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini–they don't make car commercials because music culture has been their commercial. For all that time, we take those things and create the music videos that would constantly have it have representation to the general public without them spending the marketing dollars."
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[Update: SMS Audio Reportedly Partners With Intel]
After news came out the other day that 50 Cent’ SMS Audio headphones were in talks with a "major tech company”, it looks like Intel may be that very company they were talking about.
According to Gizmodo, SMS Audio has teamed up with Intel to produce a new headphone line called "BioSport In-Ear”, which will be a biometric earbud based on the same prototype technology that Intel showed back in January at CES.
The BioSport In-Ear will be lightweight fitness headphones which sends infrared and accelerometer sensor data back to your smartphone via the 3.5mm audio jack, where it's processed by a software that keeps track of how fast your ticker's racing and the amount of steps you take.
You can view a couple pics of the prototype in the gallery, or click here to read more specific details on the upcoming product.
You open to new headphones, or is it Dre's Beats over everything?