Better Sound Wherever You Are!
After two years of development, BPM Products, LLC has introduced AMP-IT, the world’s first acoustically-amplifying docking station for mobile phones with external speakers, specifically smartphones. What is unique about Amp-It is that is requires no batteries or power cord!
A phone is simply placed onto the Amp-It dock to make any music, phone conversation, or other sound coming from the phone’s speakers loud and clear. And now the phone is positioned ergonomically as well, making it easy to view and operate.
The inventor of Amp-It and president of BPM Products, Brian McCracken, sought to combine the traditional concept of a docking station with the sound dynamics of a ‘bowl-like’ shape to provide a useful, ubiquitous product for all smartphone users … especially suited for the promotional products industry, where logos are applied to make them giveaways. Mr. McCracken has had previous success as a supplier in the industry, and designed Amp-It to be functional, customizable, affordable, and, most importantly, novel.
A traditional docking station, or ‘dock’, is a desktop accessory that provides a place to set a mobile phone when it is not being used and/or the owner is not mobile. Most docking stations have an AC connection built in and will charge the phone while it is set in the docking station. They are not typically designed to allow use when in the docking station, and certainly not for listening, unless the dock has electrical power and speakers built into it.
AMP-IT is designed to hold mobile phones of virtually all sizes and types. It works whether the phone’s speakers are on the bottom of the phone, the back, or the front. The phone is set in the dock, leaning slightly backwards, with its bottom edge held in position and the back of the phone resting against the back wall of the dock.
The key to Amp-It’s innovative function is how it holds the phone in conjunction with the shape of the inner wall. The sound waves from the phone’s speakers are unobstructed, and projected forward toward the user/listener of the phone, like the shell or dome-shaped walls of an amphitheater. This is also like the parabolic shape of NASA’s radars used to talk to spacecraft very far away. The result is sound that is louder, richer, and more focused than you would get from the phone used on its own. Mr. McCracken worked for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and became familiar with the radio antennas it used in the Mojave Desert to communicate with the Voyager spacecraft.
In addition to the acoustic benefits to the invention, it also provides an ergonomic solution for holding the phone. Designed for the desktop, its size takes up little space, and holds the phone in an easy-to-view position and at a good angle for operating the phone and its touch screen. The shape of the back wall, the forward draft of the back exterior wall, and four rubber pads positioned on the bottom hold the phone steady and prevent it from tipping over when the user taps the screen of the phone.
To make it complete as a docking station, an opening on the center of the bottom permits the phone’s USB/power cord to be inserted from the bottom and connected to the phone.
AMP-IT is not only great in the office and at home, but it travels well, to the sports court, a picnic, the beach, anywhere! In addition to being a retail product, Amp-It is destined to be a fantastic promotional product, as it is available with corporate logos imprinted in a variety of colors and styles. This industry is always looking for new, innovative, useful, and inexpensive products to be used as gifts and giveaways.
BPM Products is an innovative product design company that has created highly useful solutions to everyday problems for more than twenty years … including the famous EZ-CD opener which sold millions.