Logitech is a company all about peripherals and accessories for your computer, and this week the range of product categories it covers expanded through the acquisition of Blue Microphones.
If you haven't heard of Blue, chances are you've heard audio recorded through the company's microphones in YouTube videos or podcasts. It's also impossible not to notice Blue's products due to the very eye-pleasing design of the microphones, which cater to your typical desktop users right through to profesisonal studio setups.
As The Verge reports, Logitech is paying $117 million in cash to acquire Blue and with it round out Logitech's product line-up for anyone who wants to stream from their PC. Logitech can now offer you the video recording and voice recording devices required to do so. At the same time, it gets a foot in the door of the professional music market and will surely try and grow in that field.
Logitech CEO Bracken Darrell saw Blue as "a new way to grow." Blue Microphones CEO John Maier points to Logitech's "global reach" and "vast resources" as a good reason to join forces, although this is clearly going to be a Logitech-run business from now on.
As to what happens now, Maier explains it best on the Blue blog, "So here's the deal: all of us here at Blue will keep creating cool stuff for professional musicians, gamers, podcasters, YouTubers, and streamers; Logitech will help us conquer the world. It's a great partnership full of possibilities. And our new extended Logi family also includes Ultimate Ears, Jaybird, Logitech G and Astro Gaming. Nice."
I would be very surprised to see the Blue branding and design disappear as it is so striking and well known. Blue has been building its brand since 1995 and Logitech wouldn't want to mess with that. I'm guessing we'll get Blue Microphones by Logitech, or something similar for future products.