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David Richards and Computer Daily News

Double Digit Growth Forecast For CE And PC Industry

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Economic slowdown and financial uncertainty may be sweeping the US and much of the western world _ but the PC and CE industry remains on course for solid growth over the next five years, according to research groups IDC and GFK.

Hot on forcasts last week by research group GFK that the consumer electronic industry is set to grow by over 15% comes claims from US research group IDC that  worldwide PC shipments will grow by 15.7 percent in 2008 to reach 311 million units.

They say growth will remain in double-digits through 2011, and  should grow another nine percent in 2012, taking annual shipments to more than 482 million.

However the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) ­ while still expanding quickly ­ has seen some slippage in growth. After experiencing growth rates of almost 20 percent for the past few years, it looks like sliding below 14
percent in 2008.

Rising energy costs, inflationary pressures, the Sichuan earthquake as well as the summer Olympics in China, all limited growth, IDC says ­ but it predicts a return to growth rates above 15 percent through 2011.

The huge expansion in portable PC shipments will continue to drive overall growth, though IDC warns that the popularity of low-cost notebooks may see further erosion in average prices

“We continue to see a rapid transition to portable PCs around the world, even as economic pressures rise,” said Loren Loverde, director of IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. “The trend reflects the increasing
importance of computing, not just in the home or office, but as an integrated part of our lives.”

Bob O’Donnell, IDC’s vice president, clients and displays, couldn’t agree more. “The right way to gauge the success of consumer PCs is no longer the adoption rate of households with PCs, or even the number of PCs per household ­ but rather the number of machines per individual,” he said.

“The increasing form factor diversity in notebooks as well as desktops is enabling people to justify multiple PC purchases.”

Soul Loses Their Mojo and $18.9 Million

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Struggling ISP SP Telemedia which operates Internet and telephone services in Australia under the Soul brand, has reported a net loss for the year to June 30 of $18.9 million. It was only 12 months ago after taking on bottom end ISP TPG whose services were popular with students that Soul were bragging as to how they were set to carve up the Australian broadband market.

 

 

The  result compares with a profit last year of $5.96 million. Revenue rose five percent to $446.45 million. SPT says it lost $35 million on uncollectible revenues; previously capitalised but now written-off commissions; and costs associated with the acquisition of Internet services provider TPG. The one-off costs related principally to Soul’s consumer business.

Many customers were acquired through dealers who received high upfront commissions, resulting in cash outflows exceeding inflows. A $25 million non-cash writedown was also booked on assets and intangibles.

SP Telemedia’ subsidiary Soul Communications is one of the eight telecoms companies in the Terria consortium which is bidding for the Federal Government’s National Broadband Network project.

 

Rudd and Conroy Wrong Over Oz Broadband

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Communications and IT Minister Helen Coonan has taken solace – and a few political points – in new OECD figures that place Australia’s broadband speeds ninth in the world in October.

Late last month Opposition leader Kevin Rudd and Shadow Communications Minister Stephen Conroy made wild claims that Australia was the 36th worst broadband Country and that speeds were among the slowest in the world.

Along with Belgium, Canada and New Zealand, Australia is one of the few OECD countries in which every broadband operator surveyed by the OECD was found to impose data or bit caps.

In a feature familiar to Australian broadband customers, if users go beyond this cap, they must pay additional fees or have their services slowed to a snail’s pace. At last weeks Telstra briefing Bigpond Managing Director Justin Milne claimed that overseas networks would soon be forced to charge for broadband in a similar way to Telstra due to the fact that consumers were demanding “more and more bandwith” and as such networks would have to invest millions in delivering for the demand. 

 

According to the OECD, download speeds were reduced in 29 percent of the offers, and additional charges levied in 71 percent. The average per-gigabyte charge for additional downloads during a month was US$34.The OECD looked at 48 offers in Australia, and 33 in New Zealand, 10 in Belgium and 13 in Canada.

The OECD’s broadband statistics from October 2007 rank Australia ninth in terms of speeds offered by incumbent telecommunications operators, and in terms of average download speeds. There is nevertheless a massive difference between the speeds offered by leading broadband nations such as Japan, and Australia.

For instance, according to the OECD, Japan has the fastest average advertised download speed at 93.6 megabits per second. In Australia, the average advertised speed was below the OECD average of 13.7Mbps, at 12.1Mbps. Korea’s average speed is 43.3Mbps.

Australia rated sixth in the number of subscribers per 100 people, but nineteenth when it came to broadband affordability, measured on the basis of average monthly subscriptions.

Coonan claimed yesterday that Australia’s rise to ninth spot – from 16th – was “very embarrassing” for Labor leader Kevin Rudd, who earlier this year was stinging in his criticism of Australia’s broadband performance. “He simply doesn’t understand the curent performance on broadband. and he has misrepresented very egregiously what Australia’s position currently is,”
Coonan said.

But Opposition telecoms spokesman Stephen Conroy said “The Minister directed the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to stop collecting statistics relating to broadband earlier this year and, as stated by the OECD, the Australian Bureau of Statistics had none available to supply,” he said.

“The OECD was left to base its findings on estimates provided by the department, resulting in Australia leapfrogging up the broadband rankings.”

Mio Tries To Justify Its Position In The Navigation Market

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In a desperate effort to grab market share and justify itself as a viable brand in the navigation marketplace, Mio has rolled out several new models and done what most struggling brands do -slash prices.

But it is also one of the first to embrace the new Suna traffic information system, developed by RACV subsidiary Intelematics, however this service is only available in Melbourne and several leading brands such as Tom Tom and Garmin are expected to roll out the service when it goes national or when available in Sydney and Brisbane.

Mio is owned by Mitac, which also markets the Navman line of GPS devices and in an effort to bolster its position as the fourth placed vendor in the navigation market behind Navman, Tom Tom and Garmin, Mio has resorted to adding itself to the success of the Navman brand.

Mio which is a tiny operation in Australia operating from serviced offices in Australia has around 5% of the Australian market however when combined with Navman, Mitac has 20% of the Australian in-car GPS market between them, behind TomTom on 37% and Garmin on 25%.

 

Mio has been doing better since opening a serviced office in Melbourne, with Peter Ferrigno as sales director. Mio sales are in the “low double-digits” and have been increasing strongly following the recent price cuts, Ferrigno says. However this has been disputed by one research company.

The basic 3.5in. Mio DigiWalker C220 has been cut from $499 to $399, while the mid-level 4.3in. C520 has been slashed, with Mitac’s blessing, from $629 to $499.

They have now been joined by two new split-screen models: the C320 at $449 (similar to the 520, but lacking MP3 or Bluetooth) and the flagship DigiWalker C720t, with built-in 2-megapixel camera and videocam, at $699.

Both are claimed to be among the first to access the new Suna traffic message channel (TMC) launched by Intelematics. So far available only in Melbourne, this broadcasts detailed information on traffic congestion and other road conditions – culled from traffic light control systems, other sensors and some live observers.

Testing of the Suna TMC is now under way in Sydney and Brisbane, where it should go live in mid-2008; the plot is to extend it to other capitals by 2010. TMC users need an additional cradle kit, including hardware, software and lifetime subscription. This costs $149 on the Mio C320 and C520; $129 on the C720t, which comes with built-in hardware and needs only subscription activation.

Vamos Pure Gold Say Headhunters After He Quits Microsoft

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Head hunters in Australia are set to grovel at the prospect of getting their hands on Australian high-flier Steve Vamos who this week resigned as US-based vice-president of Microsoft’s online services group. “I can confirm that Steve has resigned and will leave the company at the end of September,” a company spokesman told CDN yesterday.

Head hunters in Australia are set to grovel at the prospect of getting their hands on Australian high-flier Steve Vamos who this week resigned as US-based vice-president of Microsoft’s online services group. “I can confirm that Steve has resigned and will leave the company at the end of September,” a company spokesman told CDN yesterday.

A Sydney head hunter said” He is pure gold. Right now there is a shortgage of good management people. Vamos has a brilliant track record and we know of several positions that he would slot into easily. There is speculation that he already has a job lined up running a major Company but we have to wait and see.”

Vamos ­ who went from running Microsoft Australia 12 months ago to heading the international online services business at the corporate HQ in Redmond ­ will return to Australia for personal reasons, according to an Australian IT report. His group is said to have been restructured to create a new division known as “Consumer And Online International” from July.

Darren Huston, who formerly ran Microsoft Japan, will head the new division, effectively replacing Vamos, insiders say.

Vamos was responsible for Microsoft’s online portal and services businesses outside the US and told journalists two weeks ago that global online advertising revenues would double in three to five years as search, classified, display and video advertising formats merged. “I am responsible for at least 80 per cent of our online revenues,” Vamos said.

Over the past decade Vamos has moved from being MD of Apple Australia, and later VP of Apple Asia, to run Microsoft/PBL’s Ninemsn joint venture, followed by a promotion to MD at Microsoft Australia. Before his move to Apple in 1994, Vamos had been GM of IBM Australia’s PC business.

Soul Loses Their Mojo and $18.9 Million

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Struggling ISP SP Telemedia which operates Internet and telephone services in Australia under the Soul brand, has reported a net loss for the year to June 30 of $18.9 million. It was only 12 months ago after taking on bottom end ISP TPG whose services were popular with students that Soul were bragging as to how they were set to carve up the Australian broadband market.

 

 

The  result compares with a profit last year of $5.96 million. Revenue rose five percent to $446.45 million. SPT says it lost $35 million on uncollectible revenues; previously capitalised but now written-off commissions; and costs associated with the acquisition of Internet services provider TPG. The one-off costs related principally to Soul’s consumer business.

Many customers were acquired through dealers who received high upfront commissions, resulting in cash outflows exceeding inflows. A $25 million non-cash writedown was also booked on assets and intangibles.

SP Telemedia’ subsidiary Soul Communications is one of the eight telecoms companies in the Terria consortium which is bidding for the Federal Government’s National Broadband Network project.