Park City company makes splash with floating speaker

Park City company makes splash with floating speaker

(Courtesy of Raptor Creative Design)


2 photos
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

PARK CITY — Andy Haase has worked for several of the largest tech companies including Motorola, Alienware and Dell Computers. He spent ten years at Motorola working on the design of the Talkabout two-way radios and police and fire radio systems.

These days Haase is chief creative officer and "head bottle washer," of Park City-based Raptor Creative Design. Raptor is primarily a tech design consultancy company, but its team hopes to have a hit on their hands with their own product — the Optical Musical Object.

The company is able to take a product, whether that of an existing computer manufacturer, such as Origin PC or of a start-up company, all the way from design to manufacturing and on to packaging and marketing. Haase's partner, Jack Cheng of Taiwan, provides the company manufacturing contracts and expertise in China.

"We've been around as a design consultancy since the middle to the end of 2010. At that time the name of our company was Snow Lizard Design," Haase said.

At one point the company was also designing its own products under the same name. Raptor evolved from a need to set the company's own products apart and avoid confusion.

The Loop Plus

The company has a couple of mobile products centered on the cell phone world. The first, Loop Plus, is a way to allow for hands free carry of a cell phone with simultaneous charging. The lanyard contains the necessary cables to attach a backup battery to the phone, providing for emergency charging without one having to be tethered to a wall or stuck at a desk.

The lanyard provides an adhesive attachment for any cell phone case. The phone is at the ready and with the user at all times while charging. Currently the product is compatible with any backup battery, including one sold by Raptor, but Haase envisions a time soon when flexible battery technology will allow the lanyard itself to contain a lightweight backup battery.

Backup batteries continue to get smaller and thinner and some are incorporated into bulky cell phone cases. The Loop Plus solves the problem of having to set a phone down in order to have the battery and cables connected to charge. Often backup batteries, combined with the phone itself and charging cables, are not pocket friendly.

Andy Haase wearing the Loop Plus and holding the OMO. (Photo: Mike Stapely)
Andy Haase wearing the Loop Plus and holding the OMO. (Photo: Mike Stapely)

The OMO

The company's latest product is the one it is most excited about. It is called the OMO, or the Optical Musical Object. The company recently released a Kickstarter campaign for the product. The product is shaped much like an unidentified flying object and it floats.

The premise is a good one. Many of us now use portable Bluetooth speakers and many these days have integrated music controls so we don't have to keep our phones nearby at all times. Some are water proof and rugged for outdoor use.

There are even systems these days with with integrated light shows, but these do not contain rechargeable batteries and have to be plugged into an AC outlet. OMO combines the best of all of these products and ups the ante with a true 40 Watt stereo sound system.

The OMO has feet and can be positioned on a tabletop but is also fully waterproof and designed to float. Not only can your next pool or hot tub party contain music and a colorful light show, but the music can be controlled from the water while your phone is located at a safe distance from the pool.

The integrated music controls work with iPhone, Android and Windows Phone devices and allow the user to control the party from the water. The possibilities are endless as you factor camping and boating into the equation. The final prototype was undergoing some last minute design tweaks when I spoke to Haase but I was able to hear an earlier prototype and the sound was impressive. It easily filled a large room and the true stereo sound, lacking from many Bluetooth cubes, allows for excellent bass response.


We're small, we're nimble and we're very creative.

–Andy Haase


The multicolored light show is three dimensional as there is a globe located on top of the device in addition to a strip of lights around the perimeter and lights on the underside. When used in a pool or hot tub at night the light show will fill both the air above and the water below. Battery life is an impressive eight hours using both music and the lights. OMO also includes two USB ports to charge cell phones.

Haase believes the OMO will be "the next big Christmas thing that everybody's going to want." Assuming the Kickstarter trends continue, the product will be in stores in time for the holidays this year.

Raptor Creative expects to continue developing their own products for the marketplace but Hasse believes the company will always be grounded in design for others.

According to Haase, Raptor Creative is able to provide customers with the personal relationship of a small company combined with a large manufacturing base in China, something that most larger rivals can't offer.

"We're small, we're nimble and we're very creative," Haase said. "One of the advantages that we have is we know the entire design process from concept generation all the way through to production. We've done it hundreds of times. We can get products to customers very quickly."


Mike Stapley is a father of two, is Business Sales Manager for a telecom company and is an aspiring novelist living in Salt Lake City. Contact him at mstapley4@gmail.com

Photos

Related links

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah

STAY IN THE KNOW

Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

KSL Weather Forecast