With all respect to Ms Bouton I think she is biased. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the
Hearing Loss Association of America.
https://katherinebouton.com/about/
I think if you consider what the HLAA is about it's hearing aids not hearables and everyone has an interest in protecting their vested interests don't they? I may be wrong but visited their site and I couldn't find anything on there re hearables and the benefits that these will provide consumers. Put more cynically and my cynicism is backed by media reporting on the rorting conducted by the audiologist profession for decades) no one likes the idea of losing market grip/power. Further we have seen articles posted here of the Audiologists professional bodies telling members that they have to change their practices (more service oriented...with a bill to match as they'll be losing market share). This isn't just from NUH...this is from pressure like Costco undercutting the oligopoly. It's a movement and NUH is geared to take a lot of that action both from the Big 5 manufacturers and Costco with the Boosts. Think about fact we're already Govt listed here.
Then you have the IQbuds...augmented hearing/office/work applications
Then look at what Bragi is focused on now...the article re Bragi which I wasn't aware of ...which strikes a chord now with respect to that comment we got from Justin about future AI software apps that we would add to our site. Thought it was just purely health issues for us vis autism/DSP etc but clear there are other applications we haven't even dreamed of yet. Further the types of apps can be dispursed according to our range as they are all intelligent hearing devices.
Quite eye opening really...
Sorry got a little diverted there...but if memory serves when Justin wrote to the OTC board pushing them to list us...their written response was that they had the discretion to list...so that conflicts with her quote. Indeed Ms Boutons commences her blog from the very article you cite dated 10 July 2018 as "OTC hearing aids won’t be on the market for
months, if not years." Contradictory no?
Now...one way or the other it doesn't matter much...we are proceeding to advertise our hearables as we choose...the OTC stamp will be cool...but it doesn't mean we can't market and open networks just the way we have (and we are in that process clearly). One way or the other we'll be first in line for that OTC stamp. In the interim we just keep on keeping on...see how that 32% qtr on qtr growth goes huh?
Can't believe this isn't sitting at 15c plus on last ann...anyway...all good...
(20min delay)