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Samsung OZ Rips Up The AV Market With 27% Growth

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After spending millions of dollars building their brand in Australia Samsung is starting to reap the benefits with the Company outperforming the market in several categories including audio visual, telecommunications and appliances.

Overall sales from these categories are close to $1 Billion with the Company tipping that they will exceed this during the next 12 months.

In the AV market Samsung has grown 27% since May 2009, when the overall market has only grown 3% the Korean Company claims. Overall Samsung now has 20% of the total AV market.

 According to GfK data, Samsung has achieved the highest level of combined value sales across its four biggest AV categories – flat panel TV, digital camera, portable media player and DVD/Blu-ray Player market – from May 2009 through April 2010.

Launched in November 1987 Samsung Australia struggled for several years because of poor management, and a lack of marketing investment.

Head of Corporate Marketing for Samsung, Lambro Skropidis, said “It’s exciting to see the Samsung brand enjoying so much consumer support. Our tracking data shows that consumer awareness and preference for our brand has been continuing to build from year to year. The ultimate expression of consumer support is seeing preference translate into higher levels of sales at the store level.”

Skropidis said that he is hoping to maintain this momentum in 2010 with the launch of its Full HD 3D TV sets.

Last month Samsung was the first to launch 3D TV’s in Australia as a result they have reaped the benefit of being first to market say retailers who also predict that they will be challenged hard in the second half of 32010 as brands like Sony, Panasonic, and LG launch their 3D TV’s.

 

This will be followed by low cost models from several Chinese brands. In the phone market Samsung is attempting to launch their own Bada OS up against Apple, Microsoft’s Windows and the surging Google Android which is set to gather momentum as several vendors roll out new Android based phones as well as Android based tablets.

Shortly Samsung Australia will launch a brand new Smartphone called the Galaxy S, based on the Android 2.2 operating system. The Company is hoping that it will challenge the Android market share held by HTC; Telstra is expected to range the phone.

The Galaxy S Android phone will incorporate the same processor as the iPhone 4/HD and iPad. The ARM Cortex A8 processor is currently built into the new AppleA4 which is delivering blistering speed for iPad users.

Globally, Samsung Electronics net profit has surged more than six-fold in the first quarter to a record high on strong demand and higher prices for memory chips as well as increased sales of mobile phones and flat screen televisions.

Samsung earned $3.59 billion in the three months ended March 31, the company said recently. The latest figure was an all-time high for the company.

Free Condom Like Protection for Apple iPhone 4

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Apple has finally come clean in admitting that their new iPhone 4 has major antenna problems and that they “screwed up” the design of the phone. Their answer is to offer consumers a free rubber cover to protect the phone

CEO Steve Jobs at a rare press conference called to address the issue after mounting criticism said last night “we are not perfect” during a presentation at the company’s US headquarters. The Company has sold over 3,000,000 phones during the past two months.
 Facing up to criticism over the reception issue and antenna design of its recently launched iPhone 4, Apple admitted the phone drops more calls than the previous version.
The big question now is will Australian’s buy the phone when it goes on sale in Australia on the 30th of July 2010, the device is already on sale in the USA and Europe?  
Apple “screwed up” with the signal algorithm of the phone, Jobs at Apple’s press conference last night. He said that there was no “antenagate”.
If the device is launched in Australia consumers are expected to be given a free protective cover, or bumper. In the USA anyone who has already purchased a bumper will get a refund. 
“To customers that are having problems, I apologise to them,” Jobs said.
Despite the problems he said it was “perhaps the best product made by Apple.” He also admitted that 1.7% had returned their phone.
Apple admitted that their new iPhone 4 lost signal strength when touched in the lower left corner which is where most consumers grip the phone.
Not to be outdone Apple revealed a video of their competitor’s phones including the BlackBerry Bold Earlier this week the US organisation Consumer Reports said that they could not recommend the phone for consumers.
of the device, weakens the device’s signal.
The rubber bumpers will cost Apple around $3 each and freely distributing them would cut into its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings by 2 cents a share said the Wall Street Journal.

Questions Raised Over PR Company’s Tech Client Claims

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UPDATED: Sydney based Spectrum Communications have been left with egg on their face after falsely claiming on their web site that they still act for several IT clients who dumped them months ago.

Among the brands listed as clients are Acer and Google. 


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A visit to their web site also shows that one Michael Henderson is the Group Managing Director despite the fact that Henderson quit the company months ago to take on a role at a rival public relations agency.
Annie Baxter, Communications Manager at Google, said that Spectrum Communications had not represented the search company for “several months”.
Acer executives said that they had not had a relationship with Spectrum for over 12 months.
A visit to the Spectrum web site shows Henderson as the Group Managing Director of the company and a key decision maker.
Henderson, who joined the Spectrum Group in 2008, quit in May 2010 to take up a role at DEC public relations.
He said “I have no involvement with Spectrum, I was not aware that they are still claiming that I am involved with the company I left earlier this year, I will raise the issue with them”.


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 Spectrum who currently acts for Intel and Research in Motion, the makers of the Blackberry phone did admit when contacted by ChannelNews that information on their web site was wrong.
Naomi Beams a founding director at Spectrum Communications, which is a Company who claim that they are a leader in the communications business, said “This story has done a lot of damage. The only mistake we have made is not updating our web site”.
She failed to explain why a “leading” communications Company in the technology market had chosen not to update their web site when they lost or won clients or, when senior executives whose skills they were using to promote the Company quit the operation after account losses. 
She also failed to acknowledge whether the Company had an obligation to present current and truthful information on a marketing vehicle as important as a web site.  
In their PR blurb to clients Spectrum claims: “We understand the business of communications is a serious one, Spectrum is creative, intuitive and accountable”.
Back in 2007 when Spectrum Communications did have Google, the  Blue Freeway Group told the ASX that revenues from the Spectrum Group were forecast to contribute an additional $2.8m to the group.
 
 At the time BlueFreeway acquired 51% of the Spectrum Group for a sum of approximately $1m, with additional payments as per the standard BlueFreeway earnout model over a three-year period.
Some of those earn out payments are due this month.
Among the other clients listed by Spectrum on their web site is iBurst, Commander, Lanier, Commander an old Telstra brand and Blu ray Disc. 
The latest news update on the site is dated 18th July 2007. 

ACCC Nobbles Horse Betting Group

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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has nobbled a horse betting operation who was using software that they believed was likely to mislead or decieve consumers after they claimed punters could earn between $50,000 to $70,000 working from home.

Sports betting software company, Intervest Global Live Pty Ltd, has stopped an advertising campaign on SeekCommercial after raised concerns about claims made for a horse betting software program called “Trilogics”.
Intervest Global has acknowledged, in a court enforceable undertaking, that a number of claims in its advertisements about Trilogics software and how much people had earned from using the software were likely to be misleading or deceptive.
Intervest Global had represented in advertisements:
that it guaranteed that customers would earn $50,000 – $70,000 from home by using the software, when Intervest Global did not offer a guarantee of this nature.
that customers had earned a certain amount of average income from using the software in 2008, when Intervest Global had no basis for making that representation, that it had many customers who had been with Intervest Gobal for 10 years, when again Intervest had no basis for making that representation, and that the software was a franchised business, when it is not a franchise.
“It is fundamental that businesses must be able to substantiate every claim that they make about a product, particularly where claims about earnings and guarantees are designed to lure in potential buyers,” ACCC deputy chair Peter Kell said.
“Consumers should be wary of businesses promising big returns from sport or horse betting products,” Mr Kell said. “Remember that sports betting is gambling, not an investment, and the ACCC has been contacted by many consumers who have lost money through sports betting products.”
The ACCC has been working with the Queensland Office of Fair Trading, Queensland Police, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission and the Australian Taxation Office to develop coordinated enforcement and consumer education strategies to tackle these types of sports betting products.
The ACCC can now issue notices that require businesses to substantiate claims that they make. If they breach the Trade Practices Act 1974, businesses also risk being issued with infringement notices of $6,600 for corporations and $1,320 for individuals, under the ACCC’s new powers.

Struggling In OZ Harvey Norman Chases 19 Per Cent Growth In Malaysia

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Harvey Norman, whose sales went backward by 4 per cent in Australia during the last quarter, is now looking for growth in Malaysia according to a report in the Malaysian publication, The Star.

They claim that the mass retailer, who has struggled this year in Australia, is looking for at least a 19 per cent growth in revenue for its Malaysian operations, and 25 per cent of the consumer electronics and appliance market in Malaysia, and that the company will embark on a two-pronged strategy that will allow it to have a stronger foothold in the country’s retail business.
Harvey Norman operates in Malaysia under Elitetrax Marketing Sdn Bhd, which in turn is owned by a seperate company, Pertama Holdings, which is an investment holding company, owned by Harvey Norman Ossia (Asia) Pte Ltd.
Harvey Norman Managing Director in Malaysia, Angelo Augustus, said this strategy involved enhancing the company’s brand name and expanding its retail outlets.
“We are now heavily building our brand name through various mass media which we hope will boost our presence and revenue growth. The company has been experiencing double-digit growth in revenue over the last few years and we hope our branding initiative will further strengthen our revenue stream as well as create greater awareness in the Harvey Norman brand.”
He said the retailer planned to spend about $4M  marketing its brand and products.
“Together with new stores in the pipeline, we hope to grow our revenue by at least 19 per cent selling European brands like Electrolux and Bosch, as well as flat panel TVs incorporating 3-D and IPTV enabled technology.
The Star reported that flat panel TVs currently contribute close to 30 per cent of the company’s Malaysian revenue. The company, which started operations in 2003, presently has six retail stores nationwide and plans to have a total of 20 over the next five years.
According to Augustus, Harvey Norman is looking at opening two more stores this year. The cost of fitout of each store will be around $2.5 Million, excluding stock. Harvey Norman’s current store size in Malaysia ranges from 30,000 sq ft to 70,000 sq ft. At the moment, the largest is the Ikano Power Centre with a built-up of about 70,000 sq ft.
Market share-wise, he added, the company had about 12 per cent to 13 per cent of the retail market and hoped to garner 25 per cent before 2015.

Interest Gouging Westpac Hit By Share Slump Despite 27% Jump In Profits

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Westpac who are hitting individuals with 11% interest on borrowings as low as $100,000 despite holding millions in assets has announced a 27% jump in profits to$1.4 Billion.

Westpac who are hitting individuals with 11% interest on borrowings as low as $100,000 despite holding millions in assets has announced a 27% jump in profits to$1.4 Billion.
The bank which is gouging interest from Australians despite a Reserve Bank cash rate of 4.5% is also taking money both ways by only offering interest of 5% on savings between $450,000 and $600K.
In one instance recently a customer who had over $10M in property secured by the bank was told he had to pay 11% interest on borrowings which were needed for an 8 week period as well as establishment fees of $400.
The bank who claims that they are “not” interest gouging saw third-quarter cash profits rise, due a sharp fall in the level of bad debts and potential bad debts.
Westpac shares are expected to come under pressure today after the bank said that revenues were down and its interest margins had been squeezed during the quarter.
Earlier in the year Westpac was slammed for raising interest rates ahead of other banks following a Reserve Bank interest rate rise. 
 Earlier this month the High Court has ordered Westpac Banking Corporation to pay a former real estate agent $50,000 in damages for defamation arising from its mistaken dishonouring of his company’s cheques. The case arose after Westpac dishonoured 30 cheques drawn by the Homewise real estate agency, located in Auburn, Sydney.
The cheques were returned to Aktas’ clients, mostly landlords, stamped “refer to drawer”, inferring there were insufficient funds to meet the payment.

PR Company For Intel And Blackberry Slammed

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The web site for Spectrum Communications, the PR company for Intel and Research in Motion makers of the Blackberry phone, is still displaying false information on their clients and directors 36 hours after we first revealed the issue.

Yesterday the company, who describes themselves as being IT experts, and a company who “prides itself” on accurate information, told ChannelNews not to call their company again after admitting that our exposure of their web site had “done a lot of damage”.
See original story here.
Earlier in the week we revealed how the company was still claiming Acer and Google as clients of their organisation despite losing the accounts more than 12 months ago. 
We also revealed that Michael Henderson was still being shown as the company’s Group Managing Director despite the fact that Henderson quit the company months ago to take on a role at a rival public relations agency.
An online web developer and manager of web sites, Toby Lucas, said it would be extremely easy to change the web site to only displaying an index page or single message while the problem was fixed. “It would take only a few minutes”.
Several other web developers we have spoken to have said it would only take “seconds” to fix the problem.
A senior executive of a major Sydney based PR company said: “Their actions are poor and reflect a poor culture in the company. They compete in the IT industry and to not fix this problem immediately reflects on the image of the entire PR industry. Fixing up the web site should have been an immediate priority”.

Tech Companies To Benefit From Company Tax Cut

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A Tony Abbott led Government will reduce the rate of company tax to 28.5 per cent from July 1, 2013 the Liberal Party have announced today.

Abbott claims that the $2.55 billion costing will be funded from savings already announced by the Coalition. The current company tax rate is 30 per cent.

“If there are lower taxes on companies we will have more successful companies, we will have a more prosperous economy, and that is good for every single Australian,” Abbott said.

During the past few days Treasurer Wayne Swann has accused Abbott of introducing a Woolworths/Coles Tax to fund his parental leave initiatives. Swan said that the cost of the program funded by an increase in Company Tax would hurt Australians due to a big new Liberal party Company tax.

Mr Abbott said today that this is not correct and that the Coalition would always be the low-tax party.

Westpac Website Wobbles Then Crashes

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Westpac who are well known for their poor online banking services despite their slogan “we are a bank you can bank on” are now claiming that they don’t know, why their online service keeps crashing leaving millions of consumers and businesses without access to their accounts.

Westpac who are well known for their poor online banking services are now claiming that they don’t know, why their online service keeps crashing leaving millions of consumers and businesses without access to their accounts.

Westpac Error Message 2010
The service that has been down most of today is pron to problems.
Compounding this, customers who need immediate banking information are being forced to call a Westpac call centre where calls are taking up to 30 minutes to be processed.
In the past the Westpac online service has been down for days but despite a multimillion dollar upgrade and the introduction of a brand new site in 2009.
Westpac said that they are unable to identify the cause of “intermittent problems”.
4Square Media who bank with Westpac has been unable to access the Westpac site since 7.20am today.
Back in 2007, Westpac who are currently charging business up to 11.6% interest on loans blamed their front page for a series of crashes. In 2008 they blamed software glitches and the pulling of a power plug at their North Ryde processing centre for an online outage that lasted 4 days.   
This time Westpac is blaming the loading of a secure online banking page, described as a “degraded service” for the problem.

Westpac Error Message 2008

LG OZ Appoints New Marketing Director

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EXCLUSIVE: LG Australia has appointed a former Electrolux and Johnson and Johnson marketing executive as their new Marketing Director to replace the dumped David Brand.

Nick Gibson, who quit Electrolux in March 2009 to start NP Gibson Consulting was prior to that, the Vice President Product Development Asia Pacific for Fabric Care, and Marketing Director Electrolux Australia. He worked there between June 2005 and March 2009.
Prior to that he was Marketing Director at Johnson & Johnson Pacific where he worked for five years.
The appointment follows a major shake up at LG Australia who is still facing a multimillion dollar fine following false marketing claims that were exposed by Choice Australia. 


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Nick Gibson Centre at Electrolux function.
Currently under investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, LG Australia is facing further fines for misleading consumers after consumer watchdog Choice claimed that LG Electronics haD duped consumers by using an illegal device within some fridges to make them appear more energy efficient.
Earlier this year Choice, said that they had recently discovered a banned circumvention device within two LG fridges which overestimates the energy efficiency of the product. Choice reported the problem to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Shortly afterwards LG Electronics in Korea moved to restructure their Australian operation. 
During the past six months LG Australia has dumped several senior executives including the marketing manager of Audio Visual Consumer Products, the Marketing Manager of their mobile Division the overall Marketing Manager of LG Australia David Brand.

 
Also dumped was the company’s Australian Managing Director, Daniel Shin. He was replaced by William Cho who previously was Managing Director of LG Canada.
According to Brad Reed, a former Nokia Executive who was recently appointed Marketing Manager of Mobile at LG Australia, the company is set to invest significantly in marketing. “The primary objective is to get LG Australia to #1 in the consumer electronics market” said Reed last night when launch two new LG Android phones into the Australian Smartphone market.