I am the Australian manufacturer of an industrial communications
headset,which plugs into all types of cell phones / mobile phones,and
allows the user to talk in a noisy enviroment.e.g skid steer
loader,bulldozer,lawn mowing contractors,excavators etc.
It has a noise cancelling system built in that cancels out mechanical
noise,so the person on the other end of the phone line does not hear
the machine noise.
The operator of the machinery etc would normally have to shut off the
equipment to be able to hear and talk on the mobile phone.(losing time
and money)not to mention the cost of retrieving the message,then
returning the call.
This product also protects the operator`s hearing,being made like an
industrial ear muff.This product is certified to AUS/NZ 1270-2002
standards and is very well made to suit idustrial applications,e.g
trades,factories,mining,mills,shipping,wharves,excavating,technicians
or just about any contractor working in a noisy enviroment that needs
to communicate via a mobile phone / cell phone or in the future (two
way radio).
WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR IS
1. To export my product to the world market and are seeking contacts
for representatives and or wholesalers in other countries that would
be interested in my product.
2.The types of cell phones/mobile phones that are the most popular
amongst the types of people I am targeting, eg. trades,
technicians,contractors,government departments etc.
3. Other brands,if available that these people are now using,with
prices paid for a product similar to mine,if any are found.
4. If others brands are found, the types of people using them and in
what field of work used.
5.Basically any market research for my product,that would be helpful
in my selling of the product to GENUINELY INTERESTED PARTIES ONLY.
old web site easy-comm.com.au ( new design soon )to look at the
product.
This is my first time at this site and I can only assume it is in
American dollars.I will set a price,but if some one finds me the right
contact and information that leads to me doing good business overseas
,I will reward them for their hard work

---

Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 24 Apr 2003 10:14 PDT

Gagazoo --

Many Google Answers researchers specialize in business-related
questions.  You might want to try this one broken into three different
questions:
1.  what distributors would be possible channels for the
noise-cancelling headset?  There are 6-12 likely in the U.S. alone, so
you'll want to be specific about which countries you'd like cellphone
distributors.
2.  cellphone penetration in specific countries for trades,
technicians, contractors, government departments.  This one will
likely be difficult to find information, as your application is so
unique.
3.  information about competing products.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

---

Clarification of Question by gagazoo-ga on 24 Apr 2003 15:15 PDT

Hi Omnivorous
Thankyou for your quick response.feel free to break my questions up
into the categries you described.I know some of questions pose a
degree of difficulty and if you like a challenge,go for it. I would
like my questions answered,but if anyone can add their own bit of
imagination to the way these are acheived,the end result will be the
same.Again thankyou for taking the time to reply.
Regards
Jeff
p.s Did you look at the web page to view product?

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 24 Apr 2003 17:02 PDT

Your product sounds quite promising...I wish you luck.

There is a very new service offered through the government in
Australia called Industry TechLink.  They will hook you up for a free
consult with an experienced tech-savvy person to help you make the
needed contacts...at least that's what their blurb says.

Have you talked with them already?  They can be found on the web at:

http://www.industrytechlink.com.au/index.php

If not, perhaps one of the Aussie-based GA researchers could start a
dialogue with them, and with the many other small business resources
and services that are available, in order to help get the gears
moving.

Let us know how much background you've done already, so there's no
going over old ground.

Good luck.

---

Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 24 Apr 2003 18:07 PDT

Jeff --

I did look at the web page and think that you do a good job of
outlining the features and a uses of the headsets.  Seeing the yellow
color, I immediately thought of Flightcom's Denali headsets for
pilots:
http://www.avshop.com/catalog/product.html?productid=3861

Having a multi-part question like this without specific countries in
which you'd like distribution is a problem for researchers, who try to
follow the quality motto to "exceed expectations."  Again, I'd
recommend breaking this question down so that you're specific on what
you'd like to see: which countries that you'd like distribution
contacts; separate the usage research.  You can easily cancel this
question to post others or you can modify this one and post additional
questions.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA
Who uses Lightspeed noise-cancelling headsets

---

Clarification of Question by gagazoo-ga on 25 Apr 2003 04:11 PDT

To omnivorous and pafalafa                                            
  1.Thankyou for the replies.I think one significant clarification
would be to target north america only, to start a search for suitable
distributors.
2.The most popular phone models for the trades type people that I will
be targeting may be a difficult task for us mere mortals,but you
ladies and gents have built quite a reputation already in australia
for finding the unfindable.this is an important question,as I need to
manufacture an adapter for each phone in bulk and becomes very costly
to stock incorrect adapter cables.maybe someone has done a survey.
3.I wont go into other brands at the moment.this may take a lot of
time and effort for little return.
4.Today is a holiday in oz,gov offices closed till monday but I look
up that web sight.this is a new one to me.
I am new to this google site,so please accept my apologies if I seem
that the way I posted the questions is a bit topsy turvy.I hope to
learn how things are done around here soon enough.
I do hope this has helped you
Best Regards
Jeff
p.s Do You people have real names.lol

Jeff - -

Though it’s a holiday, Google Answers researchers are always on the
job, even on Anzac Day (note the special logo if you get to read this
in time):
://www.google.com.au/

Now, let me hop into the cellphone distribution question for you.  The
U.S. and Canada both have mass market cellphone distribution, meaning
that every imaginable type of reseller is used, including those
addressing specialty markets.  Luckily, one vendor has emphasized the
contractor marketplace because of a feature on its system.

Let me start with an overview of the U.S. market, as six companies
hold more than 75% of the U.S. market for cellphone services.  A
company called Technology Business Research tracks the cellphone
market and their most-recent report gives you a good idea of share of
the U.S. market, as well as technology used:
Technology Business Research
"TBR Ranks Verizon Wireless No. 1 in Q402 Benchmark Results"
http://www.tbri.com/News/pgViewPR.asp?Id=62

Here’s a quick summary of market share among the 142 million U.S.
cellular subscribers:
Verizon Wireless: 22.9%
Nextel: 7.5%
Cingular Wireless: 15.4%
Sprint PCS: 10.4%
AT&T Wireless: 14.7%
T-Mobile USA (Deutsche Telecom) : 7.2%

These six companies aren’t manufacturing the phones, but do have
direct and indirect (dealer) marketing programs to government and
industry.  Here are the headquarters operations for each of the
cellular companies, so that you can make contacts with product line
managers for headsets or accessories.  Remember too that many of these
companies operate retail store networks, which may choose accessories
from other sources.

Obviously the companies with 800 or 866 toll-free numbers may be
difficult to reach from Australia, but in most cases the web pages
have e-mail or alternate contact information:

Verizon Wireless 
180 Washington Valley Rd 
Bedminster, NJ 07921 
Telephone: (908) 306-7000 
http://www.verizonwireless.com/ 

Nextel Communications 
2003 Edmund Halley Drive, 
Reston, VA 20191 
Telephone: (703) 433-4000 
http://www.nextel.com/ 

Cingular Wireless 
Glenridge Highlands Two 
5565 Glenridge Connector 
Atlanta, GA 30342 
Phone 1-866-CINGULAR 
Phone 1-866-241-6567 TTY/TDD  
http://www.cingular.com/ 

Sprint World 
6200 Sprint Parkway 
Overland Park, KS 66251  
(800) 829-0965 
http://www.sprintpcs.com/ 

For Sprint, consider also the North Supply division, which is their
parts distribution unit:
Sprint
"Contacts"
http://144.226.116.29/PR/CDA/PR_CDA_Media_Contacts

AT&T Wireless  
7277 164th Avenue NW, Building 1, 
Redmond, WA 98052  
(425) 580-6000  
http://www.attwireless.com/ 

T-Mobile USA  
12920 SE 38th Street  
Bellevue, WA 98006  
(800) 937-8997 
http://www.voicestream.com/ 


It is important to note that Nextel’s use of Motorola’s IDEN or
"walkie-talkie" feature has been promoted heavily for construction and
trades industries in the United States, as this Business 2.0 article
notes:
Business 2.0
"The Walkie-Talkie Revival" (April 15, 2003)
http://www.business2.com/articles/web/0,1653,48893,00.html


TELEPHONE HANDSETS
===================

I couldn’t find specific manufacturers’ cellphone share for the U.S.,
Canada or Mexico but Gartner Group has published worldwide share
numbers for the leading three manufacturers (Ericsson is 4th with a
share slightly less than Samsung):
Nokia: 35.8%
Motorola: 15.3%
Samsung: 9.8%

Gartner Group data is available in the Google cache from this
E-Commerce Times article:
http://216.239.33.100/search?q=cache:sIJ4GpPUgp8C:www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/21030.html+%22cell+phone+manufacturers%22+%2B+%22market+share%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

In 2001, research firm NPD Intelect published these share numbers for
cellphone companies and manufacturers for the U.S. market:
NPD Intelect
"NPD Intelect reports nearly 10 million handsets sold to consumers in
4th quarter, 2000" (March 13, 2001)
http://www.npdtechworld.com/techServlet?nextpage=pr_body_it.html&content_id=244

To get an idea what’s available in the U.S., you may wish to take a
look at one cellphone retailer’s site, where they list their
most-popular models.  By looking at accessories, you’ll see that the
2.5mm sub-miniature jack is a popular connector:
Let’s Talk
Home Page
http://www.letstalk.com/


INDUSTRIAL DISTRIBUTION
========================

In a mass distribution market such as this, you may wish to consider
using industrial distributors, who sometimes are referred to as
"master distributors" or supply houses.  North Supply, already
mentioned, is one that specializes in distribution of products to the
communications business.  They can be relied upon to break-bulk for
smaller customers (such as retailers) and to supply financing but you
should closely control any marketing.  Some other examples:
Ingram Micro D
http://www.ingrammicro.com/

Tech Data
http://www.techdata.com/index.asp

Anixter International
http://www.anixter.com/


ALTERNATE DISTRIBUTION
=======================

We’ll list a wide possibility of companies here, even though some may
be potential competitors.

Thhe major manufacturer/supplier of headsets in the U.S. is
Plantronics, a publicly-held company (NYSE: PLT):
Plantronics
345 Encinal Street
Santa Cruz, CA  95060
(831) 426-5858
http://www.plantronics.com/north_america/en_US/about/index.jhtml

There are competitors in supplying headsets that also may be of
interest.  They often specialize in vertical markets (such as aviation
or factory noise protection) but among the larger ones with wider
distribution are:
David Clark Co.
http://www.davidclark.com/index.shtml

Telex Communications
http://www.telex.com/

Using a Google search strategy for "noise-canceling headsets" will
reveal about a dozen companies that participate in this market,
including Softcomm, Lightspeed, Bose and others.

There are a number of national resellers that may be interested in
your product, including Amazon.com and Hello Direct.  The former is
the well-know Internet department store and the latter a telephone
accessories catalog receiving wide distribution:
Amazon.com
"Telephone Accessories & Supply"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/172607/104-4810306-6711102

Hello Direct
http://www.hellodirect.com/catalog/templates/home.jhtml

Virtually every U.S. (and Canadian) retailer of electronics provides
cellphones and accessories, should you wish to target these companies,
all of which carry communications products.  Many will work with rack
jobbers or distributors for lower volume products:
Best Buy
500+ stores concentrating on consumer electronics
http://www.bestbuy.com

Circuit City
600 stores; close competitor to Best Buy
www.circuitcity.com

Office Depot
1000+ office supply stores
http://www.officedepot.com

Staples
1400 stores; a close competitor to Office Depot
http://www.staples.com

Radio Shack
Electronics specialty store, which also sells cellphones.  More than
7,000 stores in the U.S. and several hundred in Canada:
http://www.radioshack.com/
http://www.radioshack.ca/

You might also wish to target Home Depot, which is a
retailer/distributor of lumber and hardware products.  Its
attractiveness for your product is due to the large construction
clientele:
Home Depot
www.homedepot.com


GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
======================

Sales to federal government agencies in the U.S. are generally done
via a General Services Administration (GSA) schedule, which sets
prices and services to federal agencies.  You’ll find information on
getting products on the GSA schedule, including companies with
telecommunications and wireless products here:
U.S. General Services Administration
"Telecommunications" (undated)
http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/browse/channel.jsp?channelId=-13924&channelPage=/channel/default.jsp

Also please note that many states and public universities purchase
from the GSA schedule, so it’s a very important channel.


CANADA
=======

Canadian markets often overlap with U.S. markets to a great extent but
retail distribution in Canada has some different participants..

Let’s start with some of the wireless communications companies,
including Telus (which purchased BC Telecommunications):
Telus Corporate Office
555 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC  V6B 3K9
(604) 697-8044
http://www.telus.com/cgi-ebs/jsp/homepage.jsp

Rogers Communications (affiliated with AT&T Wireless)
Toronto, ON
http://www.rogers.com/english/investorrelations/rogers_wireless.html

SaskTel
http://www.sasktel.com/

Bell Canada
http://www.bell.ca/shop/application/commercewf

MTS (Manitoba)
http://www.mts.mb.ca/wireless/customersupport.html

One leading Canadian retailer of electronic products is Future Shop:
Future Shop (affiliated with Best Buy)
http://www.futureshop.ca/home.asp?newlang=EN&logon=&langid=EN&dept=0&WLBS=fsweb11



MEXICO
=======

Data on the Mexican market is much more sparse, in part because of the
dominance of Telefonos de Mexico and partly because cellphone
penetration is about 10% of that for the U.S. or Canada:
Business Week
“So Many People, So Few Phones” (March 15, 1999)
http://www.businessweek.com/1999/99_11/b3620164.htm

Given the heavy dominance (70% market share) for Telefonos de Mexico,
it’s probably the best first stop for discussing distribution.  And
remember that the company may well have a product line specialist for
construction industry needs:
Telmex
Home Page
http://www.telmex.com.mx/


Google search strategy:
cellphone + "market share"
cellphone manufacturers” + "market share"
"noise-cancelling" + headset  + manufacturers
cellphones + Canada + "market share"
cellphones + Mexico + "market share"

As for your other question: the Google Answers screen names are our
real names, except possibly for jackburton-ga or robertskelton-ga (he
says with a wink).  Every evening at my house, my beloved asks, "Oh
Omnivorous one, how do haggis and parsnips sound for dinner?"

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

After a slow start and some clarification of my probably too complex
questions,together we worked through this to reach what I feel is an
exceptional answer.A very fast response to each clarification,and even
though it will take me weeks to contact all the leads that I have been
given.(the more the merrier) I feel that omnivorous will sit back and
enjoy(a nice steak and veg dinner)pun intended,knowing that he has
made another customer very happy with his commitment to the speed and
professionalism he has portrayed when dealing with me.I would hope
that my next question may be answered in the same manner.
Best Regards
Jeff (easy-comm communications)

Jeff --

Thank you very much for your comments and the extra sum.  Indeed, Mrs.
Omnivorous loves to dine at the restaurant more than any of life's
other simple pleasures.

I don't wish to de-focus your activities, but might also suggest
contacting two companies because of their products and their excellent
dealer networks.  If you could manage to get your products in front of
either at a dealer meeting, it could be quite productive.  Also, you
may have Australian contacts who could ease the process:
Caterpillar
http://www.caterpillar.com/

John Deere
http://www.deere.com/en_US/deerecom/usa_canada.html

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

http://search.dogpile.com/texis/search?q=noise+cancelling+cell&cat=web&top=1