micah t collins

iHome+Sleep

Managed product development for iHome’s first iPhone app, iHome+Sleep.  Sourced design and programming partner, negotiated co-development agreement, managed design requirements and product strategy, ensured launch happened on-schedule, etc.

iHome Studio Series iP1

The iP1 project was one of the rare projects where my involvement spanned work at more than one company, in this case, successive jobs.  

During my time at Avnera, in my Product Management role, I defined the features and specifications for a reference design for our SpeakerMagic amplifier product.  The product category the reference design targeted was a new class of performance audio iPod docking speakers.  Our reference design, called Hendrix, was a 100+ Watt bi-amplified stereo speaker dock with DSP and not much else.

At CES that year, one of my accounts in my Business Development role was iHome. Anyways, they liked the concept and spiffied it up with a very nice industrial design of their own, while preserving the overall product concept.  

After arriving at iHome in my Product Leader role, I was involved in the very tail-end of voicing, as well as in fine-tuning some marketing messaging.

IHOME iP27

The iHome iP27 was Avnera’s first design win in our target category for SpeakerMagic. This design was part of a mid-generation architecture shift to meet Apple’s “Works with iPhone” certification requirements.  Avnera’s solution helped make this compliance possible, while delivering more audio power output in a design that was critically noted for it’s impressive sound performance in an affordable, battery-powered speaker category.

Logitech Clearchat PC Wireless

This was the target application for Avnera’s first generation AudioMagic analog system-on-chip.  The chip pair (one audio sender, one audio receiver) were the products I defined as product manager at Avnera.  These devices were the company’s founding silicon application and the voice feature, as well as the integrated USB-Audio transceiver made them highly targeted at this particular PC audio accessory application.

The Logitech Clearchat, as many of the products I consider part of my portfolio, were made possible by the unique innovations in the product lines I managed and helped create at Avnera.  The USB plug & play stereo wireless headset was a category of accessory identified, targeted, made possible and subsequently dominated by Avnera’s semiconductor product range.

The Clearchat model, designed by the Logitech team we were regional neighbors with in the greater-Portland area, was one of the earliest and most broadly distributed examples of the category.

FREETALK 5192

The FREETALK 5192 Wireless Stereo Headset, as many of the products I consider part of my portfolio, was made possible by the unique innovations in the product lines I managed and helped create at Avnera.  

The USB plug & play stereo wireless headset was the target application for Avnera’s first generation AudioMagic analog system-on-chip. The chip pair (one audio sender, one audio receiver) were the products I defined as product manager at Avnera.  The custom wireless protocol’s high fidelity stereo audio plus voice features, as well as the integrated USB-Audio transceiver were the key innovations that made them highly targeted for this PC audio accessory application.  This particular category of accessory was identified, targeted, made possible and subsequently dominated by Avnera’s semiconductor product range. 

The FREETALK 5192 by Instore Solutions for Skype was the first “2nd Generation” model to reach the market by brands using Avnera’s chipset.  Building on the success of the 5191, the 5192 addressed key customer feedback by enhancing the device’s portability and affordability.  

FREETALK 5191

The FREETALK 5191 Wireless Stereo Headset, as many of the products I consider part of my portfolio, were made possible by the unique innovations in the product lines I managed and helped create at Avnera.  

The USB plug & play stereo wireless headset was the target application for Avnera’s first generation AudioMagic analog system-on-chip. The chip pair (one audio sender, one audio receiver) were the products I defined as product manager at Avnera.  The custom wireless protocol’s high fidelity stereo audio plus voice features, as well as the integrated USB-Audio transceiver were the key innovations that made them highly targeted for this PC audio accessory application.  This particular category of accessory was identified, targeted, made possible and subsequently dominated by Avnera’s semiconductor product range. 

The FREETALK 5191 by Instore Solutions for Skype was the first to market example of this category.  This particular end-product design was born out of a collaboration between Avnera and a Taiwanese ODM partner.  Jointly we sourced and designed the headphone components to meet the product specification and UI defined by me.  Once the prototype was complete, Avnera and the ODM jointly won the FREETALK business after winning referrals from Skype’s licensing/brand team.