Teenage Engineering, the company known for its synthesizers, plans to stop making synths, according to CEO Jesper Kouthoofd. He told High Snobiety that the company may no longer be primarily a product manufacturer, possibly shifting its focus to design, though he was not clear about what that would entail.
Kouthoofd said that as part of a reorganization last fall, he told his team he plans to stop making synthesizers altogether. This includes the OP-1, which launched in 2011, put Teenage Engineering on the map, and has been central to its success since. "Everyone was like, 'What are you talking about?' But I've come to the conclusion that, for us, the products aren't the business," Kouthoofd said. "We can be so much more than that."
The company has a strong design background beyond its own products. It was behind the Playdate console and the Rabbit R1, and has worked with the smartphone and audio company Nothing. It has also created one-offs such as the Mayku Multiplier pressure former and the Impossible Camera, along with several IKEA collaborations.
Longtime users of Teenage Engineering products expressed alarm at the news on Reddit, particularly because the company was vague about the timeline. Kouthoofd indicated that upcoming projects may take a while to develop. Discussing one important project "that may change our online lives," he said that five to 10 years may pass before some of these projects are released.
Source: Engadget · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing