PRESS RELEASE
Pure celebrates tenth birthday with a British classic
London, UK 2nd May 2012: Pure, the world-leading maker of wireless music and radio systems, presents the ‘Evoke Mio Union Jack', a commemorative, special edition digital radio to celebrate the tenth birthday of the launch of the Pure brand, as well as the tenth birthday of the Evoke radio.
The special edition radio will be available through leading electrical retailers from May 2012 at an SRP of £149.99 and 500 limited edition radios will be produced with a uniquely numbered commemorative plaque. These will be given away to Pure's industry partners.
Says Colin Crawford, Pure's marketing director: "When we launched the original Evoke in 2002, we never imagined that we would see crowds queuing down Oxford Street to get their hands on one, but that's what happened, and the rest, as they say, is history."
"We are incredibly proud of the Evoke's success and proud to be flying the flag for British design and technology. 2012 is going to be an exciting year for Pure as we are launching our first non-audio product and expanding our cloud-based services as well as introducing a strong roadmap of digital radios in the run up to digital radio switchover."
A market-leading and innovative British company, Pure was established ten years ago as part of Imagination Technologies (one of the world's top three suppliers of semiconductor intellectual property) to showcase new licensable technology created by Imagination. The Pure Evoke-1, which was the first high-volume sub £100 digital radio quickly sold out and had people queuing on London's Oxford Street to get their hands on one. Now, over 70% of DAB digital radios are powered by Imagination's technology.
Pure continues to pioneer, drive and showcase products incorporating many of Imagination's key technologies and focusses on designing better solutions that connect people to the things that matter to them. Pure's success in digital radio in the UK is now being replicated throughout Europe, Australia and North America, with over 4 million broadcast and wireless audio systems sold so far including sales of over 1.2 million products in the Evoke family.
Please visit www.pure.com, Pure's new Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pure or call 0845 1489001 for more information.
Digital radio milestones
- 1995: BBC switches on national digital radio multiplex with Radios 1 - 5, Parliament and Sports Plus
- 1999: Digital One, the first national commercial digital radio multiplex, launches with Planet Rock, Talk Radio (now talkSPORT), Classic FM, Virgin Radio (now Absolute Radio), and Core (a Top 40 station operated by GWR)
- 1999: First production digital radio tuner goes on sale
- 2000: Digital One begins roll out of first 20 transmitters
- 2000: Imagination Technologies (Pure's parent company) launches the DRX-601E DAB tuner under the VideoLogic brand, bringing digital radio tuners to a new affordable price point
- 2001: Frontier Silicon launches Chorus 1 low cost digital radio chip using Imagination Technologies' Intellectual Property
- 2001: VideoLogic announces Pure DRX-601 EX, the world's first portable digital radio (SRP £499)
- 2001: DRDB (Digital Radio Development Bureau), the body set up to represent the BBC and commercial digital radio, launches a limited edition £99 radio with VideoLogic to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Marconi's first wireless transmission and to gauge public interest in the £99 price point. The radios sell out in one hour.
- 2002: BBC digital only stations launch including 1Xtra, 6Music, Radio 7, 5Live and Asian Network
- 2002: Pure Australia opens and works with government to establish digital radio trials
- 2002: Pure Germany opens (incorporating Switzerland and Austria)
- 2002: The Pure brand is born and the iconic Evoke-1 launches. Evoke-1 was the world's first mainstream sub-£100 digital radio and the first product launched under the Pure brand. People queue down Oxford street to get their hands on one
- 2003: Pure launches the world's first pocket digital radio (PocketDAB 1000)
- 2003: Evoke goes stereo with the launch of the Pure Evoke-2
- 2004: Pure launches the Bug, the world's first digital radio with EPG, pause, rewind and record
- 2005: Fun Radio (now Fun Kids), the only radio station for children, launches
- 2005: Pure launches Sonus-1XT, the world's first digital radio for the blind and visually impaired
- 2005: Pure updates Evoke-1 and relaunches it as Evoke-1XT
- 2005: Pure launches Evoke-3 with pause and rewind and recording to SD card
- 2006: Pure ships its millionth radio
- 2006: Evoke-1XT gets a rock star makeover with the launch of the Evoke-1XT Marshall
- 2007: Pure launches Highway, the world's first in-car digital radio adapter
- 2007: Pure Evoke-1XT Marshall digital radios are signed by rock stars including Eric Clapton, Oasis and Muse and auctioned for the Nordoff Robbins music therapy charity
- 2008: Pure launches first Energy Saving Trust approved radio range
- 2008: Pure Evoke gets a colourful new look with the launch of the Evoke Mio in Chili, Candy, Moss, Noir and Chocolate.
- 2008: Virgin Radio is rebranded as Absolute Radio
- 2008: Pure ships its 2,000,000th radio
- 2008: Pure launches best sounding Evoke yet: Evoke-2S with Clearsound technology
- 2008: The Pure Evoke goes online with the launch of the Evoke Flow
- 2008: Pure launches the Lounge internet radio portal (www.thelounge.com)
- 2008: Listeners and high profile rock stars successfully campaign to save Planet Rock from closure
- 2009: Digital Britain report recommends a digital radio switchover date of 2015
- 2009: Amazing Radio (replacing popular birdsong channel), UCB, Premier Christian Radio and BFBS Radio (British Forces Broadcasting Service) launch nationally on digital radio
- 2009 Absolute Radio launches Absolute 80s
- 2009: Pure launches Sensia, the radio for the Facebook generation and the world's first high-resolution touchscreen digital radio
- 2009: Pure ships its 3,000,000th radio
- 2009: Pure France opens (incorporating Belgium and Netherlands)
- 2009: Pure USA opens
- 2010: Absolute Radio launches new services including Absolute 90s and Extra
- 2010: Smooth Radio launches nationally on digital radio
- 2010: BBC 6Music saved from closure due to popular demand
- 2010: Pure launches the first integrated music tagging service (FlowSongs now Pure Tag)
- 2010: The Evoke-1S Marshall is born and yes the volume still goes up to 11!
- 2010: Evoke goes designer with the launch of Evoke Mio by Orla Kiely, which features the renowned designer's signature stem print
- 2010: Pure Italy opens
- 2011: Absolute Radio launches new services Absolute Radio 60s and Absolute Radio 70s
- 2011: Jazz FM, Heart, Kiss and Capital roll out nationally on digital radio
- 2011: BBC Radio 7 rebrands as BBC Radio 4 Extra and quickly becomes the digital only station with the most listeners (increase of over 400,000 weekly listeners)
- 2011: It's announced that all new cars will come with digital radio fitted as standard by 2013
- 2011: BBC national digital radio population coverage reaches 93%
- 2011: BBC confirms it will extend digital radio coverage to 97% of the population including motorways and primary roads
- 2011: 14.2 million digital radios sold
- 2011: Pure Nordics opens
- 2011: Pure launches cloud-based on demand music service, Pure Music
- 2011: Pure launches a second Evoke Mio by Orla Kiely with her Abacus Flower print
- 2011: Pure brings RSPB birdsong to its range of wireless music and radio systems
- 2011: Pure launches new look Lounge with music store
- 2011: Pure ships its 4,000,000th radio
- 2012: BBC to launch BBC Radio 5 Live Olympics Extra in July, a national digital radio station, which will carry coverage for the duration of the games
- 2012: Pure celebrates its 10th anniversary with a new brand identity
- 2012: Pure celebrates ten years of the Evoke with the launch of the commemorative Evoke Mio Union Jack Edition
Evoke Mio Union Jack is part of EcoPlusTM, Pure's ethical philosophy and ongoing commitment to look after the environment. All Pure products are designed to minimise their environmental impact and manufactured in ethically approved facilities. They have reduced power consumption in operation and standby, use recycled packaging materials, have the smallest possible packaging and components selected to minimise environmental impact.
About Pure
Pure is the world's leading manufacturer of wireless music and radio systems, the world's leading supplier of digital radios, and the creator of the Evoke-1S, the world's most popular and iconic digital radio. Pure leads the way in wireless music systems and cloud services with the Pure Lounge portal (www.thelounge.com). Pure radios support all the broadcast standards in the DAB family used across all key markets in Europe and beyond. Designed and engineered in the UK, all of Pure's products are assembled with the environment in mind and at ethically audited facilities. Pure is part of the Imagination Technologies Group. See www.pure.com.
