Woxter
| Woxter | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Type | Private |
| Industry | Consumer electronics |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Móstoles, Madrid, Spain |
| Products | Tablets, smartphones, multimedia players, speakers, gaming peripherals, VR headsets |
| Website | https://woxter.es |
Woxter is a Spanish consumer electronics and computing brand that designs and distributes affordable technology products, including tablets, smartphones, multimedia players, speakers, gaming peripherals and a small line of Virtual Reality headsets. According to the company's own description it was created in 1999 and reached the Spanish market the following year, and it has since built up a presence across Europe, Latin America and Asia, where it locates its quality-management and control office.[1][2] The company is headquartered in Móstoles, in the Madrid metropolitan area.[1]
Woxter positions itself in the value segment, selling devices at lower prices than premium rivals while offering a Spanish warranty. In the mid-2010s it grew into one of the larger domestic consumer electronics brands in Spain, and over that period it released several virtual reality products, ranging from inexpensive smartphone viewers to a standalone Android headset, the Woxter Neo VR100.[3][4]
History
By Woxter's own account the brand was founded in 1999 to address what it saw as a gap in the digital imaging and video sector, and it became one of the first names to appear at both computing distributors and consumer electronics retailers in Spain.[1] Some third-party accounts date the company's creation to 2000, a one-year difference that likely reflects the gap between its founding and its arrival on the Spanish market.[2] The company expanded abroad over the following years and, by the mid-2010s, sold its products across Europe, Latin America and Asia. Its Latin American operations, begun in 2012, covered markets such as Colombia, Mexico and Peru.[3]
Woxter has described itself, and been described by component partners, as a multimedia consumer electronics manufacturer whose research and development team puts out roughly 50 new products a year.[5] Javier Parraga is named as the company's chief executive in supplier announcements from the period.[5]
Market position
Woxter closed 2014 with sales of about 31 million euros, which placed it among the top five consumer electronics brands in Spain by units sold; the company reported that revenue had grown by more than 75 percent over 2013, which in turn had risen 180 percent over 2012.[3] It was an early and prominent player in the Spanish tablet market, where it ranked second in the 120 to 140 euro price band, and it claimed a market share of more than 43 percent in multimedia players.[3][2] Its product lines have included the Zielo range of tablets and smartphones alongside multimedia players, Android TV devices, speakers and gaming accessories.[2][3]
Virtual reality products
Woxter's virtual reality catalogue spans two distinct approaches. The earlier and best-selling products are passive smartphone viewers, plastic headsets into which a phone is inserted to act as the display, conceptually similar to Google Cardboard and Samsung Gear VR but at the budget end of the market. The company later released a self-contained Android headset that did not require a phone.[4][6][7]
The Neo VR1, launched on 24 November 2015, is a Smartphone VR headset for Android phones and iPhones with screens between 4 and 6 inches that have a gyroscope. Built from ABS plastic with foam padding and adjustable straps, it uses magnified lenses with manual focal adjustment to display stereoscopic side-by-side images, and it shipped with a small control button for operating the phone without removing it. With a recommended price of 22.90 euros, it was pitched as a low-cost entry to virtual reality, described by reviewers as similar in idea to Google Cardboard but with a more comfortable finish.[6][8]
A second smartphone viewer, the Neo VR5, followed on 6 June 2016 with a recommended price of 39.90 euros. It added built-in headphones connected through a 3.5 mm jack, high-transparency magnified lenses with adjustable focal distance, and an adjustable headband with soft padding for a more comfortable fit than the entry-level VR1.[7]
The Woxter Neo VR100, unveiled on 5 January 2017, marked a shift to a standalone design that contained everything needed to run VR content without a connected phone or PC.[4] Priced at 179.99 euros and sold in blue and silver, it paired a 5.5-inch Full HD (1920 by 1080) IPS display with an octa-core 2 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage, running an Android 4.4 system compatible with the Google Play Store. It carried a 4,000 mAh battery, an accelerometer and a nine-axis G-sensor for orientation tracking, and connectivity including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, a 3.5 mm audio jack, Micro USB, USB OTG and a microSD card reader.[4] Because its only motion sensors were the accelerometer and G-sensor, with no system for tracking position in space, it functioned as an early consumer Standalone VR device offering rotational, three Degrees of freedom tracking.
| Product | Year | Type | Notable specs and notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neo VR1 | 2015 | Smartphone VR headset | ABS body; magnified lenses with manual focus; for 4 to 6 inch phones with a gyroscope; ~22.90 euros[6][8] |
| Neo VR5 | 2016 | Smartphone VR headset | ABS body; magnified lenses with adjustable focus; built-in 3.5 mm headphones; adjustable headband; ~39.90 euros[7] |
| Woxter Neo VR100 | 2017 | Standalone VR headset | 5.5-inch 1080p IPS; octa-core 2 GHz; 2 GB RAM; 16 GB; Android 4.4; 4,000 mAh; 3DoF; 179.99 euros[4] |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Acerca de Woxter". https://woxter.es/esp/blog/about/.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "DMI Computer se convierte en mayorista oficial de la marca española Woxter". January 18, 2017. https://www.dmi.es/comunicaciones/2017-01-18/dmi-computer-se-convierte-en-mayorista-oficial-de-la-marca-espanola-woxter_18/.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "Woxter, entre los 5 principales fabricantes de electrónica de consumo en España". https://www.agendaempresa.com/62860/woxter-entre-los-5-principales-fabricantes-de-electronica-de-consumo-en-espana/.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Woxter Neo VR100, el nuevo concepto de gafas VR de Woxter". January 5, 2017. https://one-tech.es/dispositivos/woxter-neo-vr100-nuevo-concepto-gafas-vr-woxter/.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Marvell Powers Woxter's G.hn Home Networking Entertainment Products". January 8, 2013. https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/marvell-powers-woxters-g-hn-home-networking-entertainment-products.html.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Woxter Neo VR1, gafas de realidad virtual para smartphones". November 24, 2015. https://www.tuexperto.com/2015/11/24/woxter-neo-vr1-gafas-de-realidad-virtual-para-smartphones/.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Woxter Neo VR5: las gafas de realidad a un precio tentador". June 1, 2016. https://prnoticias.com/2016/06/01/mundo-de-realidad-virtual-con-woxter-neo-vr5/.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "¡La realidad virtual ha llegado! Descúbrela de la mano de las gafas NEO VR1 de Woxter". https://www.121pr.com/la-realidad-virtual-ha-llegado-descubrela-de-la-mano-de-las-gafas-neo-vr1-de-woxter/.