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David Richards

Dell Launches Capacitive Touch Notebook

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Dell Australia has unveiled a lightweight tablet PC featuring what it calls “capacitive touch technology”. It’s Dell’s first tablet, and the first by any maker to be sold here with the capacitive technology, the company says.

Capacitive touch uses natural electricity produced by the human body to sense input. According to Dell, it’s superior to the better-known “resistive” touch technology because no pressure is required; scrolling, dragging “flicks” and “gestures” are smoother; it’s more reliable; and there’s no interference with handwriting recognition.

Dell recommends using Microsoft Vista with the tablet, as it enables ouch-based flicks and gestures.

The company claims the tablet also supports future “multi-touch” capability.
It explains that multi-touch allows users to use multiple simultaneous touch points to provide rich interaction through intuitive gestures (“Yes,” it adds in a rare salute by Dell to Apple, “a la the iPod phone”).

The Latitude XT has a 12.1-inch screen and weighs 1.6kg. Dell claims it is the thinnest and one of the lightest 12.1-in. models on the market. In Australia it will be offered with a choice of integrated mobile broadband from Vodafone or BigPond. Pricing starts at A$3500; the company says it will begin taking orders on December 19.

Dell Adds Some Colour To Their Poor Service And Boring Products

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Dell is in trouble and consumers are deserting the online brand in droves due to poor service and boring looking products. Owning a Dell product today is akin to still owning an IBM notebook.

As consumers walk away from Dell in droves due to poor service and lack-lustre products the company has turned to coloured notebooks. There is also rumours that they are talking to mass market retailers in an effort to get Dell branded products into stores as opposed to only being available online.  

The new coloured models were launched in the US overnight, in colours bearing names such as flamingo pink, sunshine yellow, alpine white, ruby red, jet black, midnight blue and espresso.

And in another move to eliminate the past, the Dimension brand has been dropped in favour of the Inspiron moniker.

Significantly the US launch – by a company which once prided itself its products would never be sold in retail stores – was spearheaded in the world’s most iconic retail outlet: Macy’s Herald Square, New York, Emporium.

 

During the past 18 months Dell’s market share has withered over the past couple of years as it has concentrated on dull grey models aimed at the corporate market. But the big growth in the global market has been in the consumer segment, with brands such as Apple, Acer and even HP making the running with more innovative, eye-catching designs.

That saw Dell’s market share slump – and five months ago Michael Dell fired high-powered CEO Kevin Rollins, taking over the top management role himself and putting added impetus into the new drive for the consumer market.

Dell has established a consumer unit that includes marketing, engineering and industrial design and aims to bring new models to market at high speed.

Acer Trounces Lenovo Big Job Cuts Tipped

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Lenovo is struggling in the PC notebook market as Acer snatches third spot in global sales. Now big cuts are tipped with Australia under the spotlight.

Lenovo plans to cut 1400 jobs worldwide – including in its Asia-Pacific operations – under a new restructuring plan. The plan, announced just as Acer pinched third place in global computer sales, shows how urgently Lenovo is seeking to boost profit outside its core market of China by bringing costs under control.

Lenovo aims to save US$100 million this fiscal year by eliminating or moving the 1400 jobs – roughly five percent of its global work force.

The cuts mark Lenovo’s second restructuring since the company acquired the PC division of IBM in 2005 for US$1.25 billion.

About 650 jobs will be cut outright and roughly 750 will be moved from the US and Europe to emerging markets. This will help Lenovo shake off some high-priced positions that were a legacy jobs from the IBM hierarchy.

There was no news at the weekend on how many Australian jobs, would be affected.

 

One of the big problems for Lenovo is that Acer replaced it as the world’s third-largest vendor of personal computers in the first quarter to March, two quarters ahead of schedule claims Acer chairman JT Wang and citing statistics compiled by Gartner Dataquest.

Acer’s sales volume in the first three months of the year rose by a better-than-expected 46.1 pct year-on-year, Wang said.

While the company normally sees a 3-5 pct sequential increase in its second-quarter sales, the pace of growth is likely to become even stronger this year, he added.

Wang said the vibrancy of the overall information technology market in the current quarter to June hinges on whether Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system can quickly grow in popularity.

Seagate Launch 1TB Storage System

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Seagate will start shipping its second-generation network-attached storage (NAS) device, the Maxtor SharedStorage II, this month.

Seagate will start shipping its second-generation network-attached storage (NAS) device, the Maxtor SharedStorage II, this month.

The major change is the addition of a 1TB size capacity to the SharedStorage family, faster data transfer speeds, gigabyte Ethernet and a new chassis. The 1TB model will ship on July 10 in the USA with a $899 suggested retail price. in Australia the device could retail for sub $1300. This massive level of network storage may not be immediately needed by many consumers, but it soon will be necessary due to the growing popularity of digital camcorders and HDTV programming being viewed on computers, said Jane Wasson, Seagate’s network storage product manager.

  The original Shared Storage product was introduced last year by Maxtor prior to its acquisition by Seagate, with capacities of 200MB, 300MB and 500MB.

Wasson said Seagate and Maxtor have learned many lessons during their first year in the NAS market. The most important is that the average consumer still does not understand the need for such devices even though they fully grasp the need for external storage drives. Seagate hopes these problems will be resolved via better retail sales associate training and consumers receiving more knowledge through word of mouth and the press.

Dodgy Appliance Distributor Wacked With $370,000 Fine For Questionable Vacum Cleaner Sales Methods

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Dodgy door to door vacum cleaner Company Lux has been wacked with a $370,000 fine by the Federal Court for unconscionable conduct following investigation into their selling practises.

The Federal Court has ordered Lux Distributors Pty Ltd (Lux) pay pecuniary penalties totalling $370,000 in proceedings brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

The Court’s orders follow declarations by the Full Court of the Federal Court in August 2013 that Lux had engaged in unconscionable conduct when selling vacuum cleaners to three elderly women.

The sales occurred after a Lux sales representative called on the women in their homes under the premise of a free vacuum cleaner maintenance check, but with the purpose of selling a vacuum cleaner. The women were then subjected to unfair sales tactics, and pressured into purchasing a vacuum cleaner. 

“The substantial penalties imposed against Lux reflect the nature of the breaches, which involved taking advantage of a “deliberate ruse” to gain access to consumers’ homes and then engaging in pressure sales tactics so that these vulnerable consumers agreed to make a purchase,” ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court said.

“The Full Court noted in its judgment in 2013 that consumer protection laws reinforce societal values and expectations that consumers will be dealt with honestly and fairly, and without deception.”

“As the national consumer protection regulator, consumer protection issues that affect vulnerable members of the community and unconscionable conduct are priority areas for the ACCC,” Ms Court said.

The Court also made orders for injunctions preventing Lux from engaging in similar conduct in the future and requiring the establishment of a compliance and education program for all Lux employees and its agents.

Background

The ACCC instituted proceedings against Lux in May 2012. The ACCC alleged that between 2009 and 2011, Lux engaged in unconscionable conduct in relation to the sale of vacuum cleaners to five elderly consumers in contravention of section 51AB of the Trade Practices Act 1974 and section 21 of the Australian Consumer Law.

In February 2013, Justice Jessup dismissed the ACCC’s Application, finding that Lux had not engaged in unconscionable conduct during its dealings with the consumers.

The ACCC appealed the decision in relation to three of the consumers, and in August 2013 the Full Court of the Federal Court found that Lux had engaged in unconscionable conduct in respect of each of the three elderly consumers.

LG Calls PR Pitch As Battle With Samsung Reaches New Heights

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LG Electronics, which is struggling to get PR traction up against a big spending Samsung, has called a PR pitch with Ogilvy & Mather outfit Pulse who operate as LG One set to be forced to re-pitch for the business.

In recent weeks Samsung has launched their new range of TVs at a big budget Star Casino bash complete with celebrities and indoor and outdoor staging. This was followed by another impressive launch event for their new Samsung Galaxy S4 right out the front of the Sydney Opera House.

In comparison LG chose a waterfront house in Darling Point where guests had to stand due to a lack of chairs to launch their TV. The star attraction was their Curved OLED TV and movie celebrity Ewan McGregor.

Several journalists at the Samsung event complained on Twitter feeds said that the event was more “fluff” than substance. 

ChannelNews has been told that a number of PR agencies are currently pitching for LG Electronics’ multimillion dollar global PR account. 

Philip Anderson, the recently appointed PR Manager at LG Electronics Australia, confirmed the pitch to ChannelNews. 

Last year LG extended their contract with the Ogilvy & Mather unit LG-One who was appointed to the business in 2009 for one year.

The pitch that is taking place this week in Korea could see the account split up or consolidated with one major agency.

In the past WPP’s strategy was to brief another one of their PR agencies to pitch for the business if they believe an incumbent could lose the business. 

This is the same global communication company that rolled out the Australian branded Professional Public Relations Company PPR into several cities around the world despite PPR having no accounts in these cities.

ChannelNews understands that this was done so that WPP could use the brand to pitch for competitive accounts.

In Australia the PPR run ‘Year of the Farmer’ PR campaign was branded a “flop” by both Farmers and the National Farmers Federation.

In recent weeks LG has risen to third position in the global smartphone market behind Samsung. In Australia LG has taken TV market share away from Samsung, Sony and Panasonic this year despite Samsung still holding the #1 TV position in Australia.

Shortly LG Australia will enter the PC market – a move that could be a problem for Ogilvy & Mather as they have the Toshiba account. Both LG One and Ogilvy & Mather operate out of the same offices in Sydney. 

Samsung Pips Sony In TV Sales

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Korean Company Samsung has become the #1 global TV supplier. The mantle was previously owned by Sony.

Samsung Electronics has overtook the struggling Sony Corporation as the leading global supplier of TVs on a revenue basis in the second quarter, according to market research firm DisplaySearch.

Samsung captured 9.9 percent of total TV market sales of $17.3 billion, up from 8.2 percent the previous quarter, while Panasonic was runner-up with a 9.7 percent share. Longtime leader Sony saw its market share decline from 11.6 to 8.8 percent sequentially, falling into third place.

On a unit basis, Samsung captured 9.0 percent of sales, runner up behind Korean rival LG Electronics whose share was 9.8 percent. TTE, the previous market leader in unit sales, saw its share fall from 8.1 to 7.5 percent sequentially.

Flat-panel TVs continued their robust growth, with unit sales rising 26 percent sequentially to 5.13 million units. Their share of total TV unit sales increased from 9 to 13 percent sequentially.

DisplaySearch said rising flat-panel TV shipments were led by liquid crystal display (LCD) based TVs, whose shipments rose 27 percent sequentially to slightly over 4 million units. Plasma TV sales were also strong, while CRT sales continued to decline.

Threats Intimidation Bullying Welcome To iPrimus

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COMMENT: Back on the 5th of February ChannelNews posted a story indicating that Primus Telecom was up for sales. Our sources were impeccable.

Back on the 5th of February ChannelNews posted a story indicating that Primus Telecom was up for sales. Our sources were impeccable.

Now two months later 100% of Primus Telecom has been sold to M2 Telecommunications Group for $192 Million dollars.

A few hours after my story appeared I received an email from a Mr John Horan who claimed that he was General Counsel for Primus Telecom Australia, he said that the story was misleading and a completely fabricated news report.

He went on to say that if this news report is not immediately retracted he will instruct his external legal providers to take appropriate legal steps to address this matter. 

He said “Accordingly, Primus Telecom puts you on notice that it will reserve its right to pursue legal proceedings for recovery of loss and to seek pecuniary damages in the jurisdictions where it principally operates, including the legal jurisdictions of Australia, the United States of America and Canada”.


Despite it being a Sunday I contacted Horan who said during the telephone conversation that he was acting on the instructions of the iPrimus CEO and that there “was no pending sale of iPrimus”.

When I put it to him that Primus Telecom was for sale and that the Company was in discussions with two possible buyers he said “pure fantasy”.


He said that he had spoken to the CEO of Primus Telecom Australia Tom Mazerski and that he was angry about the story and “wanted it taken down”.

We refused but we did publish a denial at the time based on the information that Horan had communicated to ChannelNews.

Specialist small business telco M2 has described the purchase of Primus Australia from its American parents for $192.4 million as a ”match made in heaven” they said the deal has been under negotiations for about five months according to M2 chief executive Geoff Horth.

Horth said Primus Australia had been at the top of his shopping list since mid-2011 and he leapt at the chance to start negotiations when PTGi announced it was thinking of selling assets last year.

 

 

Shortly after the denial story appeared Horan wrote “I am not a spokesman for the company.    That said, I don’t believe you have taken appropriate steps and I believe the explicit reference to “damages” in your report is of itself damaging.

 I request you remove the link for now and if you want commentary on Primus I can ask our CEO to speak with you. Otherwise you don’t really leave me any option but to instruct our lawyers in the morning”.

Both Horan and Mazerski knew that negotiations were taking place in Australia to try and sell the Company.

Horan said “We have no knowledge of a sale or a pending sale of Primus Telecom. I have spoken to the CEO and he is adamant”

The fact that a media organisation had broken the story about a possible sale was an irritant as the Company was also negotiating other business contracts at the time.

What I suspect they were concerned about was that if partner organisations suddenly became aware that the Company was facing being sold there was the real possibility that they would not partner with iPrimus.

The Horan email to 4Square Media was out and out legal bullying, a case of “bugger the truth” legal might and intimidation of a media outlet takes precedence over facts.

Or was it a case of “I am paid to plead and plead I will despite the fact that the Company was up for sale.

At one stage Horan said “It’s of no business of yours whether we are or are not negotiating a sale. As far as I am concerned your story is a complete fabrication”.

The fact that Horan did not follow through with his threats to bring in his external legal team to take action against 4Square Media also raises questions as to whether his email was genuine.

As a lawyer Horan has an obligation to only deal in the truth despite the fact that our story which proved to be right was potentially damaging to the Company.

At the time we checked the story with two reliable sources, both said that Primus was looking for a buyer.

Calls to the Company on the Friday prior to writing the story were not returned.


 

Apple CEO Describes Win 8 Surface Tablet As ‘Compromised & Confusing’

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Apple CEO Tim Cook said of the new Windows 8 OS Surface Tablet it’s a “very compromised and confusing product.”

Speaking in an Analyst Call after Apple reported an increase in profits and revenue he said “I suppose you could design a car that flies and floats, but I don’t think it would do all of those things very well,” he said.”

He claimed that he hasn’t played with it yet, but based on the news he’s read, he thinks it’s a “very compromised and confusing product.”

Apple said it sold 14 million iPads in the most recent quarter, up 26% from a year ago. The world’s most valuable company by stock-market value earlier this week unveiled a smaller iPad tablet that will go on sale next month.