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High-Tech Fashion on the Slopes
Next ski season, snowboarding equipment manufacturer Burton will unveil a new line of outerwear that the company designed with Motorola. The jackets, helmets and beanies will be equipped with cell phone and MP3 player technology so that snowboarders can toggle between talking on the phone and listening to music.
Bruce Hawver, vice president of Motorola's companion products division, says boarders can use their own cell phones and MP3 players as long as they're Bluetooth-enabled, or they can buy products with the devices wired in. Hawver says the jackets feature a control module on one sleeve that uses Bluetooth wireless technology to communicate with the cell phone and the MP3 player and to switch between the two. For example, when a snowboarder gets a call, the control panel automatically pauses the music and displays the caller information. The wearer can accept or reject the call with the touch of a button. A microphone in the jacket zipper picks up the wearer's voice, and speakers in the hood and helmet allow the wearer to hear the call or listen to tunes.
Sound cool?
The consensus among a group of snowboarding instructors at the Stratton Mountain ski resort in Vermont is that these products are for the "joeys"—the preteen and teenage wanna-bes whose parents can afford to buy such extravagancies for them. According to Burton spokeswoman Nancy Carlson, the jackets will cost about $499.
The outlook was more positive at Sid and Dusty's snowboard shop in Stratton Village, where employee Phil Galante thinks the new products will fly off the racks. "People want better, newer technology that makes it easier to communicate. I think people will eat it up."
