Exclusive: Jabra Eyeing 10% Market Share In Professional Headset Segment This Year

Despite several sectors getting affected by the ongoing pandemic, the audio segment is doing really well as businesses have been forced to adopt work from home culture. Similarly, leading engineering communications and sound solutions company Jabra saw an increased demand over a short period.

Meanwhile, we got a chance to do interact with the company's senior vice president (Intelligent Vision Systems), Aurangzeb Khan, regarding upcoming products and expected market share by the end of this year.

Has COVID-19 changed Jabra strategies in India? If yes, how?

Our overall strategies have remained the same. But, the development in demand has forced us to work harder than ever on our capacity and consultancy of clients all over the world. We have on our supply chain is in place, and we have redoubled our productive capacity.

How much has the second wave of COVID-19 and lockdown impacted your business in India?

We are happy to report that due to our early actions taken in supply chains, we are largely unaffected in a negative way on our business. On the contrary, we see growth across our business, and the situation is the same in India. In 2020 our organic growth in GN Audio, Jabra's mother company, was 42 percent.

Tell us about your expansion plans? What kind of market share you are looking for in the next five years?

We believe that the current strong market trends accelerated by the work from home phenomena will continue, which means that we will see a significant uptake in UC that virtual meetings will become the norm, increased demand for professional products.

So, we estimated that the market growth has been around 25 percent in 2020, driven by more user groups utilizing UC platforms, especially in the health care, public sector, and educational sector. We expect the penetration of professional headsets to increase by 30 percent within five years, leading to a growth of around 10 percent per year, which is also expected in 2021.

Smartphone companies are foraying into the audio segment, so how do you differentiate your products and plan to take on the competition?

The smartphone companies are mostly delivering headphones and earbuds in the consumer space. Thus, we yet do not see a lot of competition in the UC space from these companies, as there is still a big difference between consumer headsets and UC ready and certified business audio solutions.

However, as employees are also prone to wear consumer headsets to work, that could be a challenge. However, our consumer business is also making strong advancements with true wireless earbuds with ANC and multipoint connectivity.

What are your plans for launching new products this year?

This year, we have expanded on our UC headset range and brought the Evolve2 30, an entry-level headset, into the market, where we are number one. We have vastly expanded in our video segment, bringing a collaboration soundbar and an AI-driven personal camera into our range of PanaCast video solutions.

Where are you manufacturing your products?

We are manufacturing our products in Shenzhen China. Notably, it also has an R&D centre in China; however, it is designing its headphones in Denmark. Besides, the company is increasing its presence in India.