Can 50 Cent’s Earbuds Compete Against Beats?

50 Cent’s SMS Audio and Intel have teamed up.

To date, Intel hasn’t been known for lifestyle products. Meanwhile, SMS Audio isn’t known for its tech. Together these two will bring an interesting corporate partnership.

The two groups are joining forces to launch biometric earbuds. The lightweight fitness headphones which sends infrared and accelerometer sensor data back to your smartphone via the 3.5mm audio jack, where it’s processed by a software that keeps track of how fast your heart’s racing and the amount of steps you take.

“The wearable technology collaboration between SMS Audio and Intel elevates our capability to bring smart exercise to consumers,” Brian Nohe, the president of SMS Audio, said in a press release.
The idea is to reduce the number of gadgets users carry around instead. The price hasn’t been announced yet, but other SMS Audio earbuds currently cost between $79 and $399 (unless they’re on sale).

So the million dollar question is how will this square up against Beats earphones.

“There’s certainly enough room for major players in this category,” Brian Nohe explained. “The industry is evolving to really look at the delivery system, the headphone device, the iPhone or Android smart tablet, and they’re starting to see these things as an ecosystem that you work with. So, yea, there’s plenty of room out there.”

So do 50 Cent’s new SMS earbuds sound appealing? Not to 102 music lovers. An overwhelming 81% were not on board.

I was actually surprised by these results. So much so that I went back to the drawing board and focused on 109 sports lovers. To that I received almost identical results.

This time 83% of sports lovers didn’t find the buds appealing. They simply aren’t buying what 50 is selling.

And why you may ask? One word … credibility. Some users simply don’t see the brand as an equal competitor with premium brands like Bose, while others didn’t see 50 as a credible spokesperson for such a serious purchase despite that fact that NBA player Carmelo Anthony is also an investor.

Well, it sounded like a good idea.