Feature Story:
We incorrectly reported on the fate of the JBL Legend radio marking JBL’s entry into the US car radio aftermarket and we wish to set the record straight.
The JBL Legend CP100 actually received Apple certification last fall. There was a “pre-build” of a certain number of units that had been waiting for approval by Apple. Those units were sold to Crutchfield late last year. Harman’s Jeff Fay said, “We flashed all those units with approved software and sold them to Crutchfield and Crutchfield sold out quickly.”
Crutchfield’s Carl Mathews confirmed, “We made a special purchase of these intending to have them as a Black Friday special. By the time the units received the updated software, we’d missed Black Friday. We did receive them soon after and sold out in a couple of weeks, still promoting them at our special price of $249.99. It was a unique situation, not likely to be repeated. I hope our customers who bought them are enjoying their radios.”
Harman’s plan for the Legend CP100 had always been that it would be a world product, targeting China, Russia, India and Brazil, Fay said. During the 18 months or so it took to receive Apple certification, “we were able to combine languages and tuning in the software,” developing a single world radio. Now Harman “is in the process of moving to a new factory and evaluating the business plan for an International version, which we will choose to sell or not to sell,” explained Fay.
Harman originally announced the Legend CP100 in January 2016 at an expected price of $399. At the time it would have been one of the lowest priced CarPlay units on the market. It offered Android Auto as well, with a 6.75-inch touch capacitive screen, AM/FM tuner and Bluetooth audio streaming. It was a mechless unit without a CD/DVD mechanism.
CEoutlook last week incorrectly reported that JBL had withdrawn the product from market consideration and is no longer pursuing bringing it to market. We also incorrectly stated that the product had never shipped. That story has since been removed from our website.
We humbly apologize to our readers and to Harman.
Gimme a break….
“The “press” jumping to conclusions and publishing fake news… Focus on the facts, not your opinions… At least you acknowledged it…”
Dumb. Oh wait.. That’s my opinion. How was she focusing on her opinion?
Someone at Harmon must have wagged the big stick at them. Never have we seen a correction article with this much backtracking and apologies. LOL
Dear Bill. I am grateful that you take the time to read CEoutlook. I’m assuming it must supply some benefit, or you wouldn’t do it. Would you do me the courtesy of not assuming that CEoutlook is guided by nefarious motives? There was no big stick. We actually wanted to set the record straight.
The “press” jumping to conclusions and publishing fake news… Focus on the facts, not your opinions… At least you acknowledged it…
Kudos for reporting your error and correcting it!