Planalytics Inc. announced today that Agloves® has subscribed to its Business Weather Intelligence® Platform. Agloves is utilizing Planalytics’ Consumer Insights℠ service to analyze, quantify and manage the weather’s impact on sales of their winter touchscreen gloves. 

Agloves are America’s top-rated touchscreen gloves, knit with silver-nylon thread, allowing the wearer to navigate their smartphone without having to remove their gloves.

"Agloves already has a major advantage because of the uniqueness of their product," said Scott Bernhardt, President of Planalytics. "When you add Business Weather Intelligence to the equation, they are really taking the right steps for success in the marketplace," continued Bernhardt.

"Weather is a significant driver of our business," commented Jennifer Spencer, President & CEO of Agloves. "Knowing exactly where and when to anticipate demand for our products will be huge for us as we’re planning our upcoming selling seasons."

Planalytics weather-driven demand insights help businesses project periods of favorability and risk for any region or time period. In turn, companies use this intelligence for improving inventory decisions, facilitating markdowns, and planning promotions. Companies utilize Business Weather Intelligence through online Decision Tools, daily/weekly/monthly reports, Planalytics Business Weather Experts, and onsite delivery sessions.

About Agloves

Agloves® is a patent-pending winter touchscreen glove company based in Boulder, Colorado. The company was envisioned and created by outdoor enthusiasts with a scientific bent. The company launched its e-commerce store in 2010 and has since reached international markets in both retail and online sales. For more information, visit Agloves.com, or follow the company on facebook or Twitter.   

About Planalytics Inc.

Planalytics Inc. is the singular global source of Business Weather Intelligence – the actionable information companies need to understand and optimize the impact of weather on their business. Powered by an unparalleled database of weather’s financial and volumetric impacts, proprietary forecasting technologies and market-specific expertise, Planalytics’ Business Weather Intelligence is essential to any company, in any industry, looking to effectively shape strategies, pinpoint opportunities and make more profitable decisions. For more information, visit Planalytics.com.

(CNN) - The U.S. Army has been working for about two years on outfitting its soldiers with smartphones, but one obstacle to this technological upgrade likely will be familiar to anybody who has tried to operate a touchscreen phone in the winter:

Smartphones and gloves do not get along.

Rather than putting government money toward developing a new type of glove, the Army went on a little shopping spree. If the government is coming late to smartphones, and buying those from stores instead of building them, then surely someone must have solved this problem.

They aren't mainstream yet, but several companies indeed sell gloves that let the wearer operate a touchscreen without taking them off. And as more people discover the limits of their Android companions on a snowy day, these types of gloves could take off.

The Army and Air Force have landed on one brand in particular: Agloves. The little-known Colorado company is up against giant brands, including North Face, and more than half a dozen other scrappy upstarts, like Dots, Echo Touch, Freehands, Power Stretch, Tavo and TouchTec.

Yet, Agloves gets the top endorsement from the Army, where a shoddy glove doesn't mean a missed call but perhaps a lost life. The Army's Fort Bliss outpost in Texas tested several models of gloves promising smartphone compatibility as part of its mobility program. Evaluators favored Agloves, and the Army has sent many pairs of them overseas to fighters.

"These technologies coming out of small companies are literally game-changers," Michael McCarthy, a technology director for the Army, said in a phone interview.

The plain-looking winter gloves were described by the blog Mashable, a CNN content partner, as not particularly fashionable. For Jennifer Spencer, the 52-year-old founder and president of Agloves, fashion was never the point.
"Our competitors are in the fashion industry," Spencer said by phone. "We want to be seen as a wireless accessory first and foremost."

For that reason, you won't find Agloves in Macy's or Nordstrom. Instead, Agloves is sold at Best Buy, Verizon Wireless, Sprint and U.S. Cellular stores, which is where about half of its inventory was sold last winter season. They can also be purchased from Amazon.com and at the Agloves website.

Touchscreens are designed to respond to the natural electricity that our bodies produce, mainly through sweat. Agloves works by pulling the bio electricity from the wearer's wrist and palms, and transferring it to the fingers of the glove.

Agloves will ramp up production for the next winter season and add a couple of new styles, Spencer said. Current models cost either $18 or $24 per pair, a reasonable price for an Army-caliber utility.

Questions?

Contact Communications Specialist, Sara B. Hansen

SaraB@Agloves.com

www.Agloves.com

But which touchscreen gloves will be remembered as the iPod of the MP3 players? Hopefully 2012 will tell, as consumers sift through many choices and decide which glove to buy.

Bobby Thompson, senior manager at Bivouac in Ann Arbor, Mich., said his store carries five brands of touchscreen gloves – including Agloves® – and has trouble keeping them on the shelf. About 60 percent of Bivouac’s customers buy the gloves as a gift for someone who owns a smartphone.

Unlike other touchscreen gloves, Agloves – twice named Best New Product 2011 (Stevie Awards, BCBR IQ) and Audience Choice Winner (IFA, 2011) – are not “retrofitted” with conductive patches or stitching. Instead, Agloves put patent-pending technology directly into the glove resulting in uncompromised performance, effortless accuracy and agility. With Agloves, you can mimic the intuitive motions of your bare hand and text, swipe and scroll like normal.  

Thompson of Bivouac said when customers first look at touchscreen gloves they think only being able to use a finger and thumb will be OK.

“Most people don’t think about how helpful it would be to have the ability to scroll and read email while using the palm of your hand because you’re trying to juggle your phone, coffee, car keys and the paper,” he said.

Gloves. Who knew. Smartphones skyrocket, and now one of the hottest gadget accessories are gloves. Strange how technology infiltrates even our winter clothing.

What sets Agloves apart? We implore you to try them yourself. But here is what we think:

· The best ingredients. Agloves are made with real silver, the most conductive metal on the periodic table. We spend the extra dime, to give you better quality

· Thoughtful technology. Patent-pending technology makes Agloves the most accurate touchscreen glove on the market

· Elegant look. Agloves technology is built into the glove, avoiding clunky patches, or a robotic look.

Agloves sell at a rate of about 2.4 pairs per minute on their online store in the US alone. That’s nearly a quarter of a million people who now don touchscreen gloves.

Contact:

Jean Spencer

Vice President Communications

Jean@Agloves.com

970-310-6184

      * The iPhone lover who’d rather be naked than risk missing a critical email or text message on his iPhone.

      * The teen snowboarder whose alley-oop would bonk without the right iPod soundtrack.

      * The harried shopper who checks her grocery list on the smartphone one more time on the walk from car to store.

      * The runner who monitors sprint splits and heart rate checks with her touchscreen running watch.

      * The hiker who double checks trail directions on his hand-held GPS to make it to the campsite before nightfall.

 Regular gloves won’t work with touchscreen devices and you don’t want your favorite gadget geek to risk getting chilly fingers.

 So keep them warm and connected with Agloves, which are knitted with silver, the most conductive element on the Periodic Table of the Elements. Agloves give wearers full 10-finger access to all smartphones, tablets and touchscreen interfaces including your bank’s ATM as accurately as their bare hands. 

 Five great reasons to give Agloves this season:

 1. Great gadget accessory.

 2. Seasonably warm. 

 3. Best holiday gift under $25: Agloves range in price from $17.99 to $23.99 and make a perfect stocking stuffer or Hanukkah gift. 

 4. Unisex.

 5. Machine washable.

For more information or to request a pair of gloves for a product review, contact Jean Spencer, Vice President of Communications, Ph. +1 (970) 310-6184, jean@agloves.com or Sara B. Hansen, Communication Specialist, Ph +1 (970) 988-5615, sarab@agloves.com.

Boulder, Colo. -- Agloves® are warm winter gloves that allow wearers to work effectively with all 10 fingers on all iPhones and touchscreen devices. The gloves are now available in Europe. 

Why touchscreen gloves? Normal gloves don’t work with touchscreen devices. Have you ever had to take your gloves off just to send a text or answer the phone?

The secret to Agloves is the silver-nylon threading knitted throughout the entire glove. Silver is the most conductive element on the Periodic Table of Elements. Patent-pending technology and careful design gives wearers full 10-finger access to all smartphones, tablets and touchscreen interfaces as accurately as their bare hand. The gloves have a snug, comfortable fit providing optimum dexterity and precision for texting, scrolling or swiping.

“This opens a whole new category for smartphone and tablet accessories,” said Jennifer Spencer, CEO and inventor of Agloves. “These gloves simplify winter for smartphone users.”

Because of popular demand in Europe, Agloves are now carried by Staples UK, Ireland’s O2 stores, Norway and Sweden’s Enklere Liv stores, CamerNu in The Netherlands and at Poland’s Cortland, Armago and Tachobis stores. 

Agloves received an “IFA Usability Park 2011 Audience Award,” a coveted consumer-voted prize that lauds the most user-friendly product design during the world’s largest global consumer electronics tradeshow held in September in Berlin, Germany.

Initially launched as an online only e-commerce store, Agloves quickly warmed the hearts (and hands) of smartphone users worldwide, selling 60,000 pairs into 43 countries within their first six months of business. Agloves also can be purchased at www.Agloves.com.

To watch a video demonstrating the gloves’ functionality, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fae3kqYzya4

For more information or to request a pair of gloves for a product review, contact Sara B. Hansen, Communications Specialist, Ph +1 (970) 988-5615, sarab@agloves.com.

Agloves fast facts
* Why are they called Agloves? “Ag” is the symbol for silver on the Periodic Table and the most conductive element, more so than copper or gold. Silver is also a natural thermal regulator and antimicrobial.
* How do they work? Contrary to popular belief, touchscreens are not heat sensitive. They are capacitive, meaning the screens work as tiny amounts of moisture, salts, and oils in the skin allow electrons to flow between you and your device. With Agloves, the body’s natural bioelectricity flows through the glove to your touchscreen device and maintains near-perfect connection.

Boulder, Colo. (Sept. 23, 2011) -- Agloves® was one of six companies to receive the “IFA Usability Park 2011 Audience Award,” a coveted consumer-voted prize that lauds the most user-friendly product design at the world’s largest consumer electronics show, held at the beginning of September.

“We are honored to receive this acclaimed title,” said Jennifer Spencer, Agloves president, “Especially being among the throes of innovation giants such as Dyson and Nintendo. We hope our user-friendly design helps anyone with cold fingers this winter.”

The massive global consumer electronics tradeshow, called IFA 2011, is a six-day tradeshow hosted in Berlin, Germany complete with more than 1,440 worldwide exhibitors and more than 238,000 show attendees. For the fourth consecutive year, The International Design Center Berlin (IDZ) organized the special “Usability Park” to showcase example of good design in terms of user-friendliess to the IFA audience.

Companies featured at Usability Park were “chosen due to their exemplary design in terms of user friendliness,” according to the firm’s Web site, and ranged variedly in scope and application from user-friendly dishwashers to tablet holders.

IFA attendees were encouraged to stop at Usability Park to “intensively inspect” every product on display through hands on demonstration stations and vote for their personal favorites.

“The Usability Park presents products in a fashion that allows touching and trying out, and invites the audience to form their own opinion on good design,” said Cornelia Horsch, director of IDZ. “My compliments do not only go out to the winners…but also to the IFA audience, and the intensity with which the visitors have dealt with the examples of good and user-friendly design.”

The other companies/products to receive the award include:

Dyson AirMultiplier Turmentilator AMo2 | Dyson GmbH; Dyson Digital Slim DC35 Multi Floor | Dyson GmbH; Elgato EyeTV mobile | Elgato Systems GmbH; Mophie Juice Pack Plus | Mophie Inc; and Nintendo DS3 | Nintendo of Europe GmbH.

Agloves are winter gloves that work on touchscreens, and were the only clothing apparel in the Park. Agloves solve the problem that normal gloves don’t work on touchscreens. Their user-friendly design, which utilizes the conductive properties of silver, allows people to keep warm fingers during winter and use smartphones.

“The elegance of Agloves solution is a simple, everyday glove with tech-savvy functionality,” says Jennifer Spencer, president of Agloves.

Last month Agloves also won the IQ award, a Boulder County Business Report sponsored dedication to companies the exceptional product innovation and success.

Contact:

Jean Spencer

Vice President, Communications

970-310-6184

jean (at) agloves.com

The 10 most-innovative companies will be announced live at BCBR’s twelfth annual IQ Awards for innovation on Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2011.

“Winning an innovation award among Boulder’s innovation community is a huge honor,” said Jean Spencer, the company’s spokeswoman commenting about BCBR’s IQ award). “We can’t wait to see the rest of the innovations and ideas at the event.”

This year, BCBR received nearly 60 nominations from companies in the Boulder Valley and selected three finalists in each of 10 business categories. The finalists, along with their nomination categories follow:

Green/Sustainability

• OPX Biotechnologies Inc., Boulder
• Green Garage, Boulder
• Noonday Solar Inc., Boulder

Social Media / Mobile Apps

• Backpacker Magazine, Boulder

• BlogFrog Inc., Boulder
• Gnip Inc., Boulder

Nonprofits

• Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, Boulder
• Center for Resource Conservation – ReSource Tool Library, Boulder
• Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence, Boulder

Software

• Accurence Inc., Westminster
• Gorilla Logic, Broomfield
• Red Earth Software Inc., Boulder

 Natural Products

• Cooper Tea Co., Louisville
• JJ’s Sweets, Boulder
• Justin’s Nut Butter, Boulder

Sports & Outdoors

• Crescent Moon Snowshoes, Boulder
• Sea to Summit Inc., Boulder
• Salewa USA LLC dba Dynafit, Boulder

Consumer

• Agloves, Boulder
• Backjoy, Boulder
• WINGStand.com, Boulder

Internet / Web

• EarthvisionZ LLC, Boulder
• Standing Cloud Inc., Boulder
• Widgix LLC dba Survey Gizmo, Boulder

Innovation Accelerator

• Boulder Innovation Center, Boulder
• Longmont Entrepreneurial Network, Longmont

Business Products & Services

• iSupportU LLC, Boulder
• Napkin Labs Inc., Boulder
•  Radish Systems LLC, Boulder

Agloves

• “Innovation in the Boulder Valley is stronger and more exciting than it’s ever been,” said Christopher Wood, publisher of the Boulder County Business Report. “We are extremely pleased to once again honor the most-innovative products and services in Boulder and Broomfield counties. Our judges spent many hours reviewing all the nominations, and we feel that they’ve come up with an incredible list of finalists.”
• For more information on Boulder County Business Report’s IQ awards, go to www.IQawards.com.

About Agloves
AGLOVES ARE WINTER TOUCHSCREEN GLOVES. THEY WORK ON ALL TEN FINGERS, ALL SMART DEVICES, ALL THE TIME. LAUNCHED SEPT. 29, 2011, AGLOVES QUICKLY BECAME INTERNATIONAL, SELLING IN 43 COUNTRIES.

-###-

SEND AUG. 15, 2011

Agloves™ were introduced in September 2010 to help people stay connected to their touchscreen devices during cold, glove-wearing months. They are essentially knitted winter gloves. But because Agloves are made with actual silver (“Ag” on the Periodic Table of the Elements), the gloves have far more power than simply allowing folks to use a capacitive touchscreen device with gloves on.

Silver is, in fact, an extremely powerful metal. Apart from being the most conductive element on the Periodic Table of the Elements – more so than copper or gold – silver is also reflective, thus providing the greatest thermal regulation of any metal. Dubbed one of the “best winter gadgets of 2010,” Agloves effectively, and accurately!, keep people connected to all types of capacitive touchscreens including iPhones, iPads, Droids, eReaders, and even ATMs.

“We wanted a simple solution to a problem that everyone is discovering,” said Jennifer Spencer, Agloves’ Inventor and President.

Jennifer has since listened to several Raynaud’s customers who wrote Agloves expressing gratitude for how much Agloves helped with touchscreen compatibility.

But if touchscreens are capacitive, not heat sensitive, why would cold fingers associated with Raynaud’s be less effective on a touchscreen? When the body senses a decrease in temperature it naturally sucks out the moisture in your skin, with hopes of keeping your body temperature more normal. The lack of moisture translates to decreases bio-electricity potential, and in turn, decreased responsiveness on a touchscreen.

With this knowledge, Jennifer got busy testing a hypothesis: If Agloves have silver knit throughout the glove, it might maximize skin surface area enough to trump the decreased moisture problem of cold fingers and hands.

Jennifer Spencer surveyed 25 random people with Raynaud’s who expressed interest in Agloves. After receiving a complimentary pair of Agloves, each person was given a survey to test the usefulness and effects of Agloves.

Background:

How touchscreens work: Touchscreens such as iPhones are capacitive and work when the body's natural bio-electricity conducts a small charge to the touchscreen. This conductive “conversation” requires moisture and salts to be present on the surface of the skin. When hands get cold, skin tends to get dry out, resulting in a reduction of conductivity. This, in turn, causes trouble when people try to use most touchscreen devices.

Results:

After analyzing the XX-question survey, Agloves found three important results that each suggest Agloves improve people with Raynaud’s experience with touchscreen devices.

First, 62.5% of respondents said Raynaud’s phenomenon made it more difficult for to use touchscreen devices, generally. Raynaud’s respondents said that either all of the time or most of the time touchscreens did not recognize their touch, making it more difficult to do things like texting, emailing or operating ATM type devices.

In contrast, nearly 8 out of 10 survey respondents said they could operate a touchscreen device better. Respondents felt that Agloves made it easier to text, email, work with photos, search the Internet and answer the phone. This combination of findings suggests that even for the minority population of people with Raynaud’s who don’t recognize a problem accessing touchscreens, Agloves improve user’s ability to use touchscreens in almost every case.

Next, survey results suggested that Agloves are warmer than regular knit gloves. About 60% of respondents found that Agloves regulated hand temperatures better than normal knit gloves. This is likely a direct result from silver being a natural thermal regulator. Heat from the palm will natural move to colder areas to even out temperatures. An additional 29% indicated that hands were warmer, but did not notice that temperature was more even when wearing Agloves.

Finally, 100% of respondents replied they would recommend Agloves to other people with Raynaud’ Phenomenon.   This was based on a yes or no question.

###

Contact: Jean Spencer

Vice President, Communications

970-310-6184

Jean@Agloves.com

Skyrocketing Touch Screen Sales Mean Big Business for Touch Screen Glove Maker

Boulder, Colo. – Agloves, a start-up touch screen glove maker, has seen tremendous sales in its first 90 days due to the skyrocketing smartphone and touch screen device sales. This trend is fueling the demand for touch screen ready gloves at rates that continually boggle market analysts.

Indeed, in the wake of the holiday season, early sales numbers suggest a likely record-breaking surge in smart phone sales that reflect society’s increased mobile connectivity with internet-ready gadgets.

Though Apple has yet to release exact figures for 2010 iPhone sales, it look as though December 2010 could be the biggest sales quarter for Apple and smartphone producers to date.

Some analysts, including the credited Appleinsider, believe the December quarter iPhone sales will trump the previously record holding October 2010 quarter.  Sales are expected to rise to 16 million units sold, up from 14.1 million the previous quarter.

App Download Numbers Support Strong Gadget Sales

Already, a rush of smart phone app downloads in late December suggest the boom of brand new gadgets. Sites like Facebook received 1.6 million new downloads in the three days surrounding Christmas likely from people who received tech-gadgets for Christmas and spent the holiday morning downloading their favorite apps.

Kids are downloading games, Facebook and music apps in their pajamas amidst a pile of crumpled giftwrap.

The tablet is also establishing a major market segment territory.  The original iPad finished 2010 with 12 million units sold.

Several industry analysts project that smartphone use will continue to rise with ubiquitous rates.  Especially as smartphones like HTC and other Android phones (EVO 4G, Droid Incredible) gaining in popularity.

Morgan Stanley Research conjectures smartphone sales will exceed PC sales in 2010. (http://www.slideshare.net/CMSummit/ms-internet-trends060710final )

Gartner expects smartphone sales to exceed 500 million units in 2012. (http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9139301/Symbian_Android_will_be_top_smartphone_OSes_in_12_Gartner_reiterates )

The Coda Research Consultancy predict 2.5 billion smartphone sales between 2010 and 2015.   (http://www.codaresearch.co.uk/smartphoneworld/index.htm )

Continued Explosion of Touch Screen Gadgets Signals Expanding Market for Agloves

With the massive sales figures both seen in 2010 and projected for 2011 and beyond, virtually everyone in the northern hemisphere will either own or know someone who owns a smartphone or some other touch screen device. Those using the devices in cold climates either already know or will soon discover that touch screen capable gloves are a necessary accessory.

In its first 90 days of business, Agloves' sales increased from one pair of gloves sold each day, to a pair of gloves sold every two minutes -- at the company's peak.

Agloves are black gloves knitted throughout with actual silver fibers.  The silver-lined gloves allow the body’s natural bioelectricity to penetrate the glove and activate any capacitive touch screen device with virtually equal precision to the naked hand.

With a snug fit and sleek appearance, Agloves have emerged as an industry leader in touch screen glove liners and everyday gloves.

Contact:

Jean Spencer, director of communications

jeankspencer@agloves.com

Nothing kills a good date with your iPhone faster than when your iPhone touch screen is not responding. When it’s cold outside, this is exactly what happens if you try to swipe, type, text, or answer a phone call with gloves on.

The iPhone ushered in an entirely unique cell phone user experience. Using a capacitive touch screen, the iPhone enabled multi-touch technology, which allows you to stretch, swipe, and squeeze images and data in new ways. However, capacitive touchscreens work differently from their earlier resistive touchscreen counterparts, which used pressure to sense the location of touch commands.

Capacitive touch screens do not use pressure, heat, light, or any kind of magic.  They rely on bioelectric signals transferred from your skin to the screen. The touchscreen knows where your finger is by sensing delicate electricity from your skin. If the connection between your skin and the touch screen is broken, the capacitive touch screen will not work.

That’s why conventional winter gloves do not work with your iPhone or other devices that use capacitive touch screens. The gloves break the connection. Agloves, on the other hand (or on both hands), keep you connected. Uniquely designed to transfer the electricity from your entire hand to any part of the glove surface, Agloves touch screen gloves work great.

All 10 fingers are fully equipped to use your iPhone in any way you want. Agloves is one of this year’s must have iPhone accessories that will keep you connected all winter long. Add Agloves to your favorite iPhone gear, and you just might fall in (g)love with your iPhone all over again.

For more information visit www.agloves.com.

Contact:

Jennifer Spencer

President - Agloves

jennifer@agloves.com

(970) 227-7959

Jean Spencer

Agloves communications director

JeanKSpencer@agloves.com

(970) 310-6184

Note: Agloves logo & name are trademarks of Agloves. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.