Westone, Innovate Partners, Logitech
From the beginning, Ultimate Ears partnered with Westone to manufacture Harvey's designs, but in 2001 Westone began to operate a separate distribution channel in Europe, selling the IEMs as their own designs, holding all the Ultimate Ears trademarks and patents.[8] Relations between Westone and Ultimate Ears soured. Harvey did not have any patents, so it was difficult for him to separate his design, marketing and sales business from the manufacturer. At the beginning of 2002, Ultimate Ears opened their own lab, hiring Chomphorn "Noy" Soudaly, an audiologist and hearing aid technician, to run the lab. In April 2002, Ultimate Ears produced an upgraded model without Westone's help.[8] The Harveys were able to retain nine out of ten customers; the remainder became customers of Westone. In 2003, Ultimate Ears had five employees and held about 80% of the professional IEM market.[8]
Harvey went out on tour with Linkin Park to get back in contact with touring musicians and while on tour he noticed the popularity of iPods and other mp3 players. He returned with the idea that Ultimate Ears should offer a consumer model for audiophile listeners. The resulting UE-5c appeared in January 2004 sold for $550. High sales of these doubled the company's income.[8] Pursuing this direction further required outside investment, and the Harveys contacted Bob Allison, owner and CEO of Innovate Partners, an investment holding company in Irvine, California. Allison became the CEO of Ultimate Ears as the company moved to Irvine,[7] with Mindy Harvey the president and Jerry Harvey the CTO.[8] Innovate Partners helped Ultimate Ears develop a manufacturing source in China to provide the expected volume of sales. By April 2005, the resulting Super.fi 5 Pro, a double armature product, was offered to consumers at $250 per pair, and sales of these helped Ultimate Ears to gross more than $10 million in 2006.[8] That same year, Ultimate Ears teamed with M-Audio and with Altec Lansing to produce rebranded lines of earpieces, one sold under the management of M-Audio (their IE model line) and the other under the Altec Lansing name.[7]
Harvey left Ultimate Ears in 2007 after designing and producing the UE-10 Pro and then the UE-11, the first 3-way and 4-way (respectively) IEM products from Ultimate Ears.[9] Harvey said he was "forced out" by Allison who wished to strengthen his position as leader.[10]
Ultimate Ears was acquired by Logitech in August 2008.[11] The $34 million deal bought out Mindy Harvey's share and gave Logitech its first in-ear earphones product line.[11] Allison continued as division CEO.[11] Logitech's vice president in charge of headsets and earbuds, Philippe Depallens, said that even after the departure of both Jerry and Mindy Harvey, the company has been able to "keep carrying the torch of having the best in-ear monitors in the market."[10]
