Engadget just posted their review of the Oakley Thump, eyewear with a built-in MP3 player. Operation Gadget first mentioned the Oakley Thump during the 2004 Tour de France when the prototype was shown to Lance Armstrong. They are an interesting product that might appeal to some hardcore bikers, runners, and multisport people in our audience.
It seems to me that these sunglasses are aimed at people who would wear Oakleys or similar brands (i.e. athletes), which makes you wonder why the Oakley PR folks sent them to Engadget (mainly trendy city-types) in the first place. Maybe Oakley thought the co-marketing deal with rapper Lil Jon would provide more street cred with the NYC gadget people than it actually did.
Here’s a key quote from the Engadget review:
We�ll just come out and say it: we really didn�t like wearing these in public. We�d criticize Oakley for the Thump�s styling (or lack thereof), but to be honest we haven�t really liked any of Oakley�s sunglasses since were 11, so we�ll concede that the styling thing is a matter of personal preference. We have no doubt there are plenty of people out there who like the looks of the Thump�Lil Jon seems to be enjoying his�so we�re not exactly the final arbiter on these things. You can argue all you want about the importance of aesthetics when it comes to MP3 players, but sunglasses are first and foremost fashion accessories, which means no matter how awesomely amazing the sound quality or massive the storage capacity, the design matters a lot. We wouldn�t wear these if we were regular sunglasses, so glomming an MP3 player on there isn�t going to make much of a difference.
I beg to differ with Peter Rojas on this. If you are an athlete and an Oakley fan, have a playlist for each different workout, find the Oakley Thump frames comfortable, and like one of the limited set of lens options, the Thump may be right for you.
I could argue that the Thump makes even more sense now that Apple has released the iPod Shuffle. I went out on a limb two weeks ago, suggesting that the iPod Shuffle would be a hit with athletes. If that turns out to be the case, the Thump will probably sell reasonably well to athletes also.