Speck Design, Silicon Valley's leading product design firm was chosen by Maverick CEO Craig Janik to re-think the design of the Bluetooth headset. Maverick's goals were to differentiate themselves by creating a Bluetooth headset that was "not so 'Star-Trek,' high-tech but more like jewelry and that was comfortable and completely effortless to use in a car".
Speck Design's industrial design and mechanical engineering teams jointly responded to the challenge by delivering a breakthrough research and discovery phase that included a survey of existing approaches in the marketplace, and a series of fresh form concepts, one of which was a compact circular shape. The simple, iconic form was chosen as the direction of Maverick's product line. Speck's research also provided alternative methods of connecting to the ear with increased comfort and security.
The result is Nica, the only compact, open-air headset on the market. Speck's design has no mic boom extending into the wearers face, the headset is more stable and secure, yet draws less attention to itself. The open-air acoustics allow the headset to be worn comfortably for longer periods because there is no ear insert pressing on the ear canal.
Speck worked with Maverick throughout the industrial design, engineering, and manufacturing phases on the headset and docks.
Nica's advanced technology is not limited to the headset itself. Serious attention was paid to how consumers really use Bluetooth headsets. Speck designed the docks with innovative ways of charging. Nica attaches magnetically to both the desk dock and the car dock charger for easy cableless recharging and convenient access. The car dock also mounts in a variety of ways in the car including plugging directly into the cigarette lighter, while still providing a secondary outlet to plug in another device, such as a cell phone.