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Bose

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Bose
Information
Industry Consumer audio, automotive audio, audio technology
Founded 1964
Founder Amar G. Bose
Headquarters The Mountain, Framingham, Massachusetts, United States
Notable Personnel Lila Snyder (chief executive officer), Bob Maresca (chairman of the board), Nick Smith (president, Audio Technology Business, and chief strategy officer)
Products QuietComfort headphones, Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, Bose Frames (discontinued), Bose AR platform (discontinued), FMOD (through Firelight Technologies)
Website https://www.bose.com


Bose (Bose Corporation) is a privately held American audio company founded in 1964 by Amar G. Bose, who taught electrical engineering on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1956 to 2001.[1][2] Its headquarters are at The Mountain in Framingham, Massachusetts.[3][4] The company makes headphones, wireless earbuds, speakers, soundbars and car audio equipment, and since 2024 has also owned the luxury brands McIntosh and Sonus faber.[5]

Bose's main work in augmented reality was Bose AR, a platform it introduced at SXSW in March 2018. Instead of adding graphics to the wearer's view, Bose AR used head-motion sensors in compatible Bose wearables and the location of a paired phone to add an audio layer of information and experiences.[2] The platform ran on Bose Frames audio sunglasses and two Bose headphone models.[6] Bose closed it in 2020, saying it had worked for "specific use cases, not for broad, daily use,"[7] and phased out the Frames line at the end of 2023.[8] In October 2026 Bose bought Firelight Technologies, maker of the FMOD game audio middleware, and said it would explore longer-term uses in areas including VR/AR.[9]

Reviewed 21 October 2026. Founding, early products, headquarters, MIT stock gift, leadership, McIntosh/StreamUnlimited/Firelight acquisitions, Bose AR launch, compatible products, Star Wars and HERE integrations, 2020 shutdown, Bose Frames models and discontinuation, and Immersive Audio checked against Bose press releases and timeline pages, MIT News, CNBC, CE Pro, Engadget, 9to5Mac, HERE, Gizmodo, TechCrunch and Digital Trends; hardware and apps not tested. About review dates.

History

Founding and early products

Amar Bose founded Bose Corporation in 1964. Its first office was in the East Natick Industrial Park in Natick, Massachusetts, and its first two full-time employees were Sherwin Greenblatt and Tom Froeschle.[10] Its first consumer product, the 2201 loudspeaker, came out in 1966, followed by the 901 speaker system in 1968.[10] In 1972 the headquarters moved to The Mountain in Framingham, which now holds the corporate center and a research and development facility.[3]

Bose's company timeline dates its work on noise cancelling to 1978, when Amar Bose began looking for a solution after being disappointed by airline headphones on a flight from Zurich to Boston.[3] Bose made two prototype noise-reducing headsets available to pilots Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager for their 1986 nonstop round-the-world Voyager flight, and in 1989 it released an aviation headset that it describes as the first commercially available active noise reducing headset.[11]

Ownership and leadership

On 29 April 2011 MIT announced that Amar Bose had given it the majority of Bose Corporation's stock in the form of non-voting shares. Under the terms of the gift MIT receives cash dividends but cannot sell the shares and has no role in the company's management or governance, and Bose stayed privately held.[1] Amar Bose died in July 2013.[12]

Lila Snyder, previously an executive vice president at Pitney Bowes and a McKinsey & Company partner, joined Bose in 2020 and became chief executive that year.[13][5] Bose's leadership page lists her as chief executive officer and Bob Maresca as chairman of the board.[14]

Acquisitions and divestments

Bose sold its professional sound-systems business in 2023.[5] In November 2024 it bought McIntosh Group, owner of the McIntosh amplifier brand and the Italian speaker maker Sonus faber, from the Dallas private equity firm Highlander Partners; terms were not disclosed.[5] The deal was completed on 15 November 2024.[15] On 9 June 2026 it announced the acquisition of StreamUnlimited Engineering, a Vienna-based supplier of streaming software, hardware modules and certification services for connected audio and smart home products.[16] The Firelight Technologies purchase followed on 1 October 2026.[9]

Bose AR

Announcement

Bose announced Bose AR at SXSW on 9 March 2018 and called it "the world's first audio augmented reality platform." The company said the platform "doesn't change what you see" and instead adds "an audible layer of information and experiences." Sensors in a Bose AR wearable tracked head motion, the GPS of a paired iOS or Android device supplied location, and a Bose AR-enabled app combined the two to deliver audio. Users were to control apps with head gestures, voice or taps on the wearable.[2]

Bose showed prototype glasses with a miniaturized acoustic package in each arm, compatible with microphones for calls and voice assistants. It named ASICS Studio, Strava, TripAdvisor, TuneIn and Yelp as collaborators, with the MIT Media Lab and NYU's Future Reality Lab as academic partners, and said it would invest up to US$50 million through Bose Ventures in startups building apps, services or technologies for the platform. The SDK and limited quantities of a refined version of the glasses were to be available in summer 2018.[2]

Engadget's James Trew tried the 3D-printed prototype on Rainey Street in Austin during SXSW. The glasses used a nine-axis IMU together with the phone's GPS; a double tap on the side of the frame played details about the business the wearer was facing, and directions could be played in one ear. A Bose representative told him the glasses did not use bone conduction. Trew found the directional information "worked pretty well" but noted that a demo might not reflect real-world conditions.[17]

Compatible products and apps

The first retail Bose AR wearable was Bose Frames, announced on 4 December 2018 in two styles (Alto and Rondo) for US release in January 2019 at US$199. Bose said Frames used "a 9-axis head motion sensor and the GPS from your iOS or Android device," and that Bose AR apps were coming in 2019.[18] The Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, announced in May 2019 at US$399.95 with shipping set for 30 June, also supported Bose AR, as did the QuietComfort 35 II with up-to-date firmware; owners reached AR apps through the Bose Connect app for Frames and the QuietComfort 35 II, and through the Bose Music app for the Headphones 700.[19]

Product Type Announced Bose AR access
Bose Frames (Alto, Rondo) Audio glasses 4 December 2018[18] Bose Connect app[19]
QuietComfort 35 II Noise cancelling headphones Existing model, updated by firmware[19] Bose Connect app, version 8.0 or later[19]
Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 Noise cancelling headphones May 2019[19] Bose Music app[19]

In December 2019 Bose released audio AR scenes in the official Star Wars app to coincide with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Users picked one of four scenes from different films and heard dialogue and effects around them in 360-degree audio as they moved. The release listed the Headphones 700, QuietComfort 35 II and Bose Frames as compatible and said Bose AR SDKs were available for iOS, Android and Unity.[6] In January 2020 the mapping company HERE Technologies announced that its developers would get access to the Bose AR platform and its spatial audio, with HERE maps, points of interest and positioning APIs able to be integrated with the Bose AR SDK.[20]

Shutdown

According to Gizmodo, Bose posted an FAQ in April 2020 announcing that it would close the public beta Bose AR SDK. In June 2020 a spokesperson told Protocol that "Bose AR didn't become what we envisioned" and that the program had produced experiences for "specific use cases, not for broad, daily use," and Bose said it would end support for third-party developer apps in mid-July 2020.[7][21] TechCrunch, reporting the same statement, noted that the developer initiative had taken on no new partners since April and that it was unclear how much of the US$50 million fund had been invested. Bose said components of the technology would be used "to help Bose owners in a different way."[21]

Products

Bose Frames

Bose Frames combined sunglasses with open-ear speakers in the temples. Bose's company timeline lists Frames under 2019 and describes them as using open-ear audio first seen in its earlier SoundWear Companion.[22] On 10 September 2020 Bose announced three further models, Tempo, Tenor and Soprano, at US$249 each; the announcement described their audio and prescription-ready lenses but did not mention Bose AR.[23]

In December 2023 Bose told Digital Trends that it was "in the process of phasing out Frames," that most of its inventory had sold through, and that the glasses would no longer be available by the end of the year. Existing owners kept support and active warranties.[8] Bose's Frames page says they are "no longer available for purchase on our website, but we still support the owners who love them."[24]

Head-tracked audio in headphones

Bose's QuietComfort Ultra Headphones and Earbuds, announced on 14 September 2023, introduced Bose Immersive Audio, which places sound virtually in front of the listener. It has a "Still" mode, in which audio stays in one place, and a "Motion" mode, in which audio moves with the listener so that it stays in front. Bose says the effect uses an onboard IMU and its own digital signal processing software.[25] This is head-tracked spatial audio for everyday listening, not an AR platform.

XR work

Bose's XR work has been audio-only. Bose AR treated augmented reality as an audio layer driven by head orientation and phone location rather than a visual overlay,[2] and Bose described the AR function of Frames as one that "doesn't change what you see."[18] Its 2026 announcement of the Firelight Technologies purchase brought FMOD, which game developers use for audio that "responds to what's happening in the game in real time," into the Bose Audio Technology business. Bose said FMOD would remain open and broadly supported, called gaming "a significant opportunity for our continued growth," and said that over time it would explore "longer-term opportunities in areas such as VR/AR, automotive, and other applications"; financial terms were not disclosed.[9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Amar Bose '51 makes stock donation to MIT". MIT News. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 2011-04-29. https://news.mit.edu/2011/bose-gift. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Bose introduces audio augmented reality platform". Bose Pressroom. Bose Corporation. 2018-03-09. https://www.bose.com/pressroom/bose-introduces-audio-augumented-reality-platform. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "The Seventies". Bose timeline. Bose Corporation. https://timeline.bose.com/decade/the-seventies. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  4. ↑ "Privacy Policy". Bose. Bose Corporation. https://www.bose.com/legal/privacy-policy. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Kif Leswing (2024-11-19). "Bose buys McIntosh, storied maker of high-end luxury audio equipment". CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/19/bose-buys-mcintosh-storied-maker-of-high-end-luxury-audio-equipment.html. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Bose AR experiences now available in the official Star Wars app". Bose Pressroom. Bose Corporation. 2019-12-09. https://www.bose.com/pressroom/bose-ar-star-wars-app-experience. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Victoria Song (2020-06-16). "RIP, Bose AR, We Hardly Knew Ye". Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/rip-bose-ar-we-hardly-knew-ye-1844057062. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Simon Cohen (2023-12-11). "Bose discontinues its Frames audio smart glasses". Digital Trends. https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/bose-discontinues-frames-audio-smart-glasses/. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "Bose Corporation Announces Acquisition of Firelight Technologies". Bose Pressroom. Bose Corporation. 2026-10-01. https://www.bose.com/pressroom/bose-acquires-firelight-technologies-announcement. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "The Sixties". Bose timeline. Bose Corporation. https://timeline.bose.com/decade/the-sixties. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  11. ↑ "The Eighties". Bose timeline. Bose Corporation. https://timeline.bose.com/decade/the-eighties. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  12. ↑ Katherine Jacobsen (2013-07-15). "Amar Bose, inventor of Bose speakers, dies". The Christian Science Monitor. https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/Tech-Culture/2013/0715/Amar-Bose-inventor-of-Bose-speakers-dies. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  13. ↑ "Lila Snyder". Bose Corporate Leadership. Bose Corporation. https://www.bose.com/about/our-corporate-leadership/lila-snyder. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  14. ↑ "Bose Corporate Leadership". Bose. Bose Corporation. https://www.bose.com/about/our-corporate-leadership. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  15. ↑ Zachary Comeau (2024-11-19). "Bose Acquires McIntosh, Sonus Faber Luxury Audio Brands". CE Pro. https://www.cepro.com/news/mcintosh-acquired-by-bose/143920/. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  16. ↑ "Bose Corporation Announces Acquisition of StreamUnlimited Engineering GmbH". Bose Pressroom. Bose Corporation. 2026-06-09. https://www.bose.com/pressroom/bose-acquires-streamunlimited-announcement. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  17. ↑ James Trew (2018-03-10). "Bose sunglasses hands-on: audio AR makes more sense than you think". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/10/bose-sunglasses-hands-on-audio-ar-makes-more-sense-than-you-thi/. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 "Bose announces Frames - a revolutionary new wearable". Bose Pressroom. Bose Corporation. 2018-12-04. https://www.bose.com/pressroom/bose-announces-frames-a-revolutionary. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 Ben Lovejoy (2019-05-29). "Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 replacing QC35 in June, pre-orders open". 9to5Mac. https://9to5mac.com/2019/05/29/bose-noise-cancelling-headphones-700/. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  20. ↑ Ian Dickson (2020-01-14). "Bose and HERE - creating the future of AR". HERE Technologies. https://www.here.com/learn/blog/bose-and-here-creating-the-future-of-ar. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Lucas Matney (2020-06-17). "Bose calling it quits on audio AR platform, report says". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/17/bose-calling-it-quits-on-ar-report-says/. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  22. ↑ "The Teens". Bose timeline. Bose Corporation. https://timeline.bose.com/decade/the-teens. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  23. ↑ "New Bose Frames - new for sports, new for style". Bose Pressroom. Bose Corporation. 2020-09-10. https://www.bose.com/pressroom/new-bose-frames. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  24. ↑ "Bose Frames". Bose. Bose Corporation. https://www.bose.com/bose-frames. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  25. ↑ "Bose Announces New QuietComfort Ultra Headphones and Earbuds". Bose Pressroom. Bose Corporation. 2023-09-14. https://www.bose.com/pressroom/bose-announces-new-quietcomfort-ultra-headphones-and-earbuds. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
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