Griffin Technology - Griffin Technology

Griffin Technology is a privately held U.S. company founded in Nashville, Tennessee in 1992 by Paul Griffin. The company designs and manufactures computer peripherals, consumer electronics, and accessories for smartphones and mobile devices. The company's first products were primarily video adapters, in particular those to enable the connection of DB-15 based Macintosh computers to the more popular VGA based monitors of the time. June 1998 marked Griffin's entry into USB based computer peripherals with the introduction of the iMate, a device that allowed the use of Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) based devices with the newer, and increasingly more common, Universal Serial Bus (USB). Griffin introduced additional USB devices, such as iMic and Po werMate, over the next two years, and continued to enjoy moderate growth during this period.

Griffin was one of the first 3rd-party vendors to produce peripherals for Apple's iPod. One year after iPod came out, at MacWorld San Francisco 2003, Griffin introduced iTrip. iTrip is an FM transmitter that allows iPod owners to transmit audio from an iPod to a nearby FM receiver.

The company experienced rapid growth fueled by the success of its iPod accessories, especially the iTrip. As evidence, the number of people employed by Griffin Technology increased four-fold between 2003 and 2007. This growth allowed the company to take on more ambitious projects such as the Evolve wireless speaker system, and to diversify the product line to include accessories for iPod competitors such as Microsoft's Zune, and SanDisk's Sansa.

At present, the company's accessories line-up includes those for Apple's iOS devices, as well as popular smartphones, tablets, and handheld devices from Google, Amazon, Samsung, HTC, and Motorola. Products range from protective cases for these devices, to consumer electronics and accessories for audio performance and playback, remote-controlled model cars and helicopters, consumer electronics accessories for children, and products for retail and healthcare markets. Griffin Technology currently employs 350+ employees, world-wide.

In 2014, Griffin became one of the first Nashville companies to become a naming partner at a career academy of a local high school. The Griffin Academy of Design and Technology is located at Hunters Lane High School of Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools.

Selected products

iTrip FM transmitter
iMic external audio in/out peripheral for computing devices
PowerMate programmable control knob
Survivor Cases Mil-Spec protective cases for mobile devices
Moto TC and Helo TC app-controlled model cars and helicopters
WoodTones stereo headphones with wooden speaker enclosures
MyPhones protective volume-limiting headphones for children
PowerBlock and PowerJolt AC and DC chargers
Woogie plush-toy protective play-cases for mobile devices
Olli handheld card and barcode scanner for healthcare and point-of-sale applications of iPhone 5 and iPod touch (5th generation)

Survivor cases

In 2011, Griffin Technology released a series of MilSpec cases for smartphones and tablets named Survivor [1]. The MIL-STD 810G claims were verified by an independent third party lab (NTS National Technical Systems). As part of the marketing campaign for Survivor, Griffin released a series of YouTube videos in a lighthearted "reality show" style. The videos showed Griffin Certifications Director, Michael O'Connor, performing various real world experiments (throwing the phone through drywall, off a 150-foot bridge, dragged behind a motorcycle, etc.) with an iPhone in a Survivor case.