A Louis Vuitton-made device described as a smart luggage tracker was certified by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last Thursday, with the Paris, France-based fashion company asking the agency for permanent confidentiality in regards to publishing the specifics of the product. Regardless, buried in the released documentation is a picture of the tracker that can be seen above this writing, with the documents also revealing that the device itself is currently planned to be marketed as the Louis Vuitton Echo. A permanent confidentiality request is far from being a standard industry practice, with most original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) usually opting to ask the FCC for six months of confidentiality, so whatever technology is powering the Louis Vuitton Echo, it seems that the French firm is adamant to keep it a secret.
The device submitted to the federal agency for testing is identified by the model number LVE, which is presumably short for the “Louis Vuitton Echo,” with its product label also revealing that the creation was made in the company’s home country. The aforementioned confidentiality request was signed by Jean-Pascal Assémat, one of Louis Vuitton’s Project Leaders who’ll be celebrating five years with the French company next month but hasn’t been publicly connected to any of the company’s previous forays into consumer electronics and the Internet of Things (IoT) segment. The Echo features an integrated antenna that can communicate with ISM bands in the frequency range between 902MHz and 928MHz, the FCC’s documentation reveals, adding that the device is powered by a conventional lithium-ion battery whose capacity wasn’t specified. The testing documentation also indicates that the creation will support several modes of operation but doesn’t go into many more details regarding their user-facing capabilities.
While traditionally a fashion company, Louis Vuitton has been rather active in terms of developing new technologies in recent months, with the French firm just entering the smartwatch market with the Tambour Horizon and even managing to poach Nest’s renowned product designer in late June through its subsidiary LVMH Moët Hennessy. While it remains to be seen whether the company ends up commercializing the Echo, more details on the product and its other hardware efforts may follow later this year.