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Taser International Inc. wants customers to rock out to their favorite music while toting around the company’s personal stun gun.
At the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Monday, the Scottsdale company unveiled a stun-gun holster that contains a digital music player.
The Taser MPH (Music Player Holster) contains a 1-gigabyte MP3 player that holds about 500 songs.The MPH will cost about $80 and begins shipping in March. It is designed to hold the Taser C2, an updated version of its consumer model the company debuted at the tradeshow last year.
Taser hopes the new product appeals to a wider customer base.
“It’s one more reason why you might be carrying the Taser C2 when you’re out and about,” said spokesman Steve Tuttle said. “It’s not so much of a gimmick as it is a reason for people to continue to carry” a Taser.
Combining a music player with the holster makes it easier for customers who don’t want to carry a separate device to store their music, he said.
Matthew McKay, an analyst who follows Taser for Jefferies & Co. Inc. in San Francisco, had doubts about the holster-music player combo.
“I think they have to kind of prove first of all that someone’s going to want to carry a Taser on their belt,” he said.
Taser’s stun guns have remained controversial.
Groups like Amnesty International maintain that more testing of the device must be conducted before it can be used safely.
Other experts maintain that police officials, for example, must be better trained on how to use the stun gun.
Taser created a stir at the electronics show last year when it introduced the metallic-colored C2 model, an updated version of a stun gun it marketed to consumers years before.
Taser began shipping the C2 device, initially sold in black, silver, blue and pink, to retailers and consumers last July.
The company shipped about 7,000 of the units during the third quarter of 2007, the most recent figures available.
On Monday, Taser unveiled three new colors: Leopard Skin, Red Hot Red and Fashion Pink.
To drum up sales for the C2 device, which sells for between $300 and $380 depending on color, Taser will also begin marketing a 27-minute infomercial about the device on various TV networks this spring.
John Bunnell, who hosts the TV show World’s Wildest Police Videos, hosts the infomercial, which was filmed at Taser’s headquarters in the Scottsdale Airpark.
The program also features Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Ultimate Fighting Championship star Eric Swiger.
Taser’s shares closed down 0.9 percent Monday at $13.11 but rose slightly in after-hours trading.