Category: Racquets & Strings - Company: Prince Tennis |
Prince O3 Technology Wins 2006 IDEA Award
Racquet Technology Takes Bronze Award in Consumer Products Category
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Zach Perles
One Advantage Court
Bordentown,
609-291-5932
zperles@princesports.com
07/05/06 - Bordentown, NJ – Prince O3 racquets come in colors such as red, blue and silver, but this year they have a new tint of bronze. Prince O3 Engineered Technology is the winner of the Bronze Industrial Design Excellence Award (IDEA) in the Consumer Products category, recognizing it as an outstanding consumer product design for 2006.
“The IDEA Award is given to products that show exceptional design and engineering, and it is a privilege for our company to have been honored with this outstanding award. At Prince, we live an ongoing commitment to give consumers an exceptional tennis experience through advanced technology and engineering,” said George Napier, chairman and chief executive officer of Prince. “Our focus is to bring products to market that improve play; to be the benchmark for fresh thinking and innovation – and ultimately to set the bar for the industry.”
Decisions for the 2006 (IDEA) were based upon design innovation, benefit to the user, benefit to the business, ecological responsibility and aesthetics and appeal.
The IDEA competition, sponsored by BusinessWeek and the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), awarded a total of 499 entries this year. A complete list and analysis of each recipient will be included in the upcoming edition of BusinessWeek due out June 30 and in IDSA’s quarterly magazine Innovation.
“Consumers expect new products and services to not only serve their needs, but to delight them,” said IDEA Jury Chair Chris Conley. “The 2006 IDEA winners represent the best of global product design and the best people and firms working to realize design’s potential in everyday life.”
Prince has revolutionized the tennis industry with O3 Technology. By transforming ordinary pin-sized string holes into revolutionary giant O-Ports, they have expanded the sweet spot up to 54 percent, allowing players to hit more consistent shots from more places on the racquet, more often. This is achieved without enlarging the racquet head, increasing its length, or adding weight. The introduction of this technology in January 2005 was the first major innovation in the tennis industry since Prince introduced “Longbody” 10 years ago.
O3 Technology has also been proven at the highest level of the game with over 70 ATP and WTA touring pros choosing O3. Top players including Maria Sharapova (O3 White), Nikolay Davydenko (O3 Tour) and Guillermo Coria (O3 Tour) all choose one of the O3 Original models while up and coming star Shahar Peer chooses one of the new O3 Hybrid models. The conversion rate of top players to O3 is also unprecedented; of those players who try O3 Technology, 50 percent make the switch.
According to the SMS/TIA First Quarter Specialty Store Audit for 2006, Prince has five of the hottest new racquets ranked by year-to-date sales in the “Combined Head Size Hot New Racquets” category, all of which are O3 Technology. In addition, O3 was named a Best Buy for 2006 by WHICH? Magazine, an independent consumer magazine from the United Kingdom and the O3 Silver and O3 Hybrid Hornet are Tennis Magazine Editor's Choice Winners.
About Prince Sports
Prince Sports, Inc., based in New Jersey, is a recognized leader in game-improvement technologies and engineering-based high-performance sports equipment. Since 1970, Prince and Ektelon have revolutionized tennis, squash and racquetball with innovations including “Oversize,” “Longbody” and “Extender” racquet technologies, Natural Foot Shape footwear technology, Synthetic Gut String and Electronic Ball Machines. In 2005, Prince introduced O3, another breakthrough that features an expanded sweet spot (up to 54 percent) and increased racquet speed, a combination only possible with O3 Technology. Prince Sports has operations on three continents and distribution in over 100 countries. For more information, please visit www.princetennis.com.
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