Amar Bose, the man who created the company that sells the famous headphones passed away at the age of 83 last week. Sam Grobart took a look at the legacy the man leaves behind:

• Before Bose, audiophiles were deeply technical individuals who had a lot of cash to burn in pursuit of the perfect sound.
• Bose changed that by marketing up-scale sound to the upper-middle class.
• While the audio quality produced by Bose speakers was debated, the marketing was such that just like the BMW, and Ralph Lauren, Bose became a luxury brand that had a mass market appeal.
• Before Bose cars would also have shoddy audio systems. However tie-ups with Porsche and other car manufacturers changed the expectation.
• The company benefitted from the rise of mp3 players where the only peripheral that mattered were the speakers – a market the company had cornered.
• Ultimately though, Grobart concludes that Bose combined “technology with status” because he “took things that were previously considered complicated and esoteric and sold them right down the upper-middle”

Read more about the legacy Bose leaves behind over here.

Source: Businessweek