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Oonagh Reidy

Its Baack: Click Frenzy ‘eCarnival’ Hits 2013

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After last years online fiasco, Click Frenzy is back, promising it has mended its way after last Novembers farce.
Click Frenzy was OZ’s first 24-hour Internet sales event with 170 retailers taking part including Myer and Dick Smith, which led to multiple retailer servers and Click Frenzy’s own site crashing under the weight of 2.6 million consumers looking for e-deals.

But now its rolling out a full calendar of events including the Mother’s Day Tuesday, April 23, Father’s Day plus End-of-Financial-Year and a pre Christmas ‘eCarrnival’ and Click Frenzy in November which will remain the staple event, Grant Arnott Click Frenzy co-founder said on Power Retail today.

Mr Click Frenzy said improvements made to its systems to ensure the mass web crash won’t happen again.

“We’ve listened, and we have learnt ” Arnott said, promising none of the online fiasco of last year, where consumers were unable to access the Click Frenzy and retailer’s sites for hours, despite having pre-registered, leading to an outcry on Twitter, Facebook.

Even the ACCC admited they were aware of the fiasco.

Despite this, Click Frenzy is definitely returning in 2013, as well as an eCarnivale which will hit Internet town the third week in November starting with the 24-hour mega-sale from 7pm Tuesday 19 with “all merchants on display.”

The eCarnivale event continues for the rest of that week, with breakout events for home, entertainment and other categories.

To help moderate the traffic, subscribers will be given early access to Click Frenzy events whilst for the public, the shopping site goes live at 7pm for the start of each event.

Read: After Click Frenzy …. Comes The Big Q

“Due to the outage and the subsequent controversy via social media, there’s a perception that Click Frenzy failed,” Arnott said.

“Its popularity exceeded our wildest forecasts, and the site was down for the first 15% of the 24 hour period, which caused a major stir across media and social media.”

Read: Click Frenzy: What The Retailers Say

“There are still plenty of critics, but we’ve been buoyed by the overwhelming industry support for Click Frenzy, and we’re determined to deliver.”

The co-founder of the sale event insisted there’s been “great enthusiasm” from consumers  and “we’ve had an incredible response from existing and new retailers on our Click Frenzy database for the Mother’s Day campaign and subsequent events.”

However, the organisation was not available for comment when contacted by CN.

If you would like further information on participating in Click Frenzy 2013, email info@clickfrenzy.com.au or call 03 9585 9869.

Gerry Harvey: We Are Going Online, Jump On

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80% of Harvey Norman goods are going online, a fed up Gerry Harvey confirmed today.


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Image: Gerry Harvey gets set to join the online race.

“Eighty percent of our retail products will be online in September,” Harvey Norman’s chairman confirmed to Computerworld. 

“I’m sick of talking about online [retail] to journalists.” Well talked about it, he certainly has. 

Harvey and his high street stalwarts, including the likes of Myer and Solomon Lew’s Just Group kicked up a stink last year when, en bande, demanded the introduction of 10% GST tax on all goods sold online under the value of $1000, claiming online was destroying its brick and mortar retail businesses. (I wonder is Harvey as keen on this tax now he is venturing into the competitive online world of trading).

Harvey was one of the main champions of the tax until the proposals went sour after major consumer backlash.

Well the Productivity Commission, charged by the Gillard government to investigate if Gerry Harvey et al had a case, certainly don’t seem to think so.

“Other factors such as much lower prices, greater range of products-that is, choice- and convenience available online appear to be far more important drivers,” for web business, the Productivity commission said in a recent draft report on the retail sector. The final report is due out soon. 

Even as far back as 1997 the same Gerry Harvey famously uttered: “No one will ever make money selling online,” when the Internet was first emerging as a sales platform. 

This denial strategy was carried on until earlier this year, when Harvey Norman turned to social networks like Twitter, Facebook and even its own deal-a-day website flgging everything from cosmetics to camping gear in the hope of reinvigorating dull profit growth. 


Currently, customers cannot purchase good on harveynorman.com.au – the site acts as an information point only – allowing users create wish lists, but that’s all. 

 

Earlier this week, SmartHouse reported on how Harvey Norman operation is in hot water, with mass sackings in its Clive Peters and Rick Hart retail operations due to underperformance. 



Acer UltraBooks: Big, Pricey.. So Why Bother?

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Well, bother we should. Maybe. If specs leaked to Notebookitalia are to be believed, the new Ultrabooks to be unleashed by Acer “should” start up at the click of a button – 6 seconds to be precise – and networked in just 2.5 secs.


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Intel Vice President, Sean Maloney first announced the new category of laptops in Taipei, to be “thin, light and beautiful designs that are less than 20mm thick, and mainstream price points under US$1,000,” driven by its next gen high speed Core processors, Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge. 

Intel are hoping 40 percent of new laptops would be Ultrabooks by the end of next year, a category already fighting for its life amid the tab revolution.

However, it looks like Acer has gone against Intel’s creed, and will charge “more than $1000” for their device, according to reports. This means the Ultrabook will cost almost double the price of a neat Iconia tablet from the same brand. 

The much revered notebook king are said to have changed its pricing strategy, aiming at the high end price range using top spec components. 

And it looks like its not just Acer that has disobeyed Intel’s creed. Asus are also producing Ultrabooks but some models will cost well over the US $1000 mark. In fact, models using Core i5 and i7 will cost up to $2000, a source told Slashgear. (Maloney might not be pleased.) 

However, Asus Ultrabooks driven by Core i3 processor will go for less than a grand. 

It’s hard yet to know whether Ultrabooks are the revolutionary device they promise to be, or breath some life back into the laptop category, so watch this space – Acer’s first attempt  is out Q4. 

Confirmed: Samsung S4 Mini To Hit OZ

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S4 Mini will be making its way down under.

The Galaxy maker issued the following statement to us today: 

“Following the global announcement of the GALAXY S4 Mini, Samsung Electronics Australia is happy to confirm the GALAXY S4 Mini will be arriving in Australia in the coming months. 
Samsung Australia didn’t give a time frame but did say it will “sharing more information around this exciting new addition to the GALAXY S4 family soon.”

The 4.3-inch Galaxy S4 Mini was announced Friday by Samsung overseas. 

 The mini-me version of the 5 inch S4 also has: 1.7GHz dual-core processor, 8MP rear and 1.9MP front camera, and will come in 4G LTE or 3G+ options. 
Galaxy S4 mini will see the light of day for the first time at Samsung Premiere 2013 GALAXY & ATIV, London on June 20th. 

Game Over: Retailer Closes ALL Oz Stores

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Game to shut up shop completely in Australia, administrators have confirmed.


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Game administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers have confirmed that they have made the “difficult decision” to close the remaining 31 stores across its Aussie network, Kate Warwick and Greg Hall, said.

16 stores will close from today, while the remainder to be closed over the coming weeks and a final closing sale has commenced with discounts of up to 60% in-store and online, due to creditor interests.

This comes as the gaming giant closed 60 stores nationwide in May after sales crashed, thought to be due to the increasing use of gaming sites via Facebook and other apps.

Many of these initial closures were in regional locations with most metro stores saved.

“This is a difficult time for employees and closing the stores was not a decision we made easily.

“Despite exploring available opportunities for continued trading, the ongoing trading performance and absence of viable offers for the purchase of the business has resulted in these closures,” PwC’s Warwick said.

 

PwC said it has been in touch with the Federal Government Department that deals with General Employee Entitlements and Redundancy Scheme (GEERS) and will assist the employees with their applications.

The second meeting of creditors is scheduled to take place tomorrow in Sydney to decide the future of the company.

Watchdog: “iPad 4G” Row NOT Over

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ACCC vow to continue its fight with Apple, despite it pulling “iPad + 4G” claims


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Australia consumer watchdog has vowed to go ahead with its court battle with Apple, whom it accuses of misleading Aussies over its claims its new iPad WiFi model is 4G ready, when this is not the case.

“In its proceedings, the ACCC has alleged that Apple’s use of the descriptor ‘4G’ mislead consumers because it represented to Australian consumers that the product could, with a SIM card, connect to a 4G mobile data network in Australia, when this is not the case,” an ACCC spokesperson told SmartHouse.

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission took the iPad maker to court in March, alleging Apple claims on “iPad with Wifi + 4G” are “false” and “misleading”.

But although Apple provided undertakings to the Federal Court to do ‘certain things’ to remedy the situation, it continued to use the descriptor ‘4G’ in advertisments for the cult tablet, the ACCC noted.

The iPad maker agreed to publish a clarification that states the tab  supports ultra-fast 3G mobile networks but not 4G, and offer refunds to mislead consumers.

It also emerged yesterday Apple had finally pulled its iPad + 4G claims from website after various discussions with the watchdog over the new iPad name.

However, the latest backtrack isn’t enough tot save the Cupertino giant from the wrath of the Federal court and the watchdog, it appears.

“Any move by Apple to cease using the descriptor of ‘4G’ will mitigate against the ACCC’s concerns but will not deal with any past conduct,” the spokesperson continued.

“The proceedings brought by the ACCC are continuing,” he added, with the trial is due to kick off 4 June next.

 

Apple could face a major fine if the watchdog succeeds in its case. 

The giant previously denied any wrongdoing, claiming: “the iPad with WiFi + 4G is a device which performs in accordance with the descriptor ‘4G’ in terms of data transfer speed.”

Read: Apple: iPad 3 IS 4G (on 3G)

Toshiba Tumbles 46%

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Tech giant Toshiba is feeling the blues after posting a net profit of 73.7 bn yen on the back of sluggish sales in TV and PCs.

Toshiba sales fell to 6,100.3 billion yen (US$74,393.4m), for the full year  to March 31 FY2011 – a drop of 298.2 bn yen compared to FY 2010.

Net profit of 73.7 bn yen ($898.8m) showed a disappointing drop of 46.5% or 64.1 bn yen – blamed on increasing tax expenses due to a revision of Japan’s Corporation Tax Act .

Overall sales were down in its AV, TV and PC segments, reflecting the “impacts of sharp yen appreciation, the Great East Japan Earthquake, the floods in Thailand and market downturns,” Toshiba said in a statement.

However, its ‘Social Infrastructure’ division, which includes power and Industrial Systems enjoyed higher sales than last year.

Even though its “Visual Products”, which includes TVs, saw sales increase in emerging economies, Toshiba slumped in its native Japan due to the transition to digital TV and the ending of  a stimulus program there.

Tosh’s digital products and PC sales were also sluggish due to slow sales in the United States and Europe and currency translation adjustments due to sharp yen appreciation.

However, the Japanese giant did see some cost improvement due to reorganization and consolidation of domestic and overseas facilities, after its decision last year to consolidate several of its production plants.

Tosh’s PC business recorded higher operating income on the “execution of proactive cost reductions and lower parts and material costs.”

Toshiba’s ‘Storage Products’ business also witnessed a jump due to the “healthy performance” of hard disk drives (HDD), but the semiconductor business fell due to the floods in Thailand, price declines in memories and a fall-off in demand for discretes and system LSIs.

“The Japanese economy remained in a severe condition due to the impacts of the GreatEast Earthquake, exposure to sovereign risk in some European countries and the impact of sharp yen appreciation,” Toshiba warned.

 

“In these conditions, Toshiba Group, aiming to become an even stronger, a world-leadingdiversified company by overcoming demanding business conditions, strongly promoted global business deployment and the transformation of itsbusiness structure through strategic investments and acquisitions.”

The company is forcasting rising sales across all divisions for 2012, totalling 6.4 trillion yen and a net profit of 135 billion yen for FY2012.

It said it will focus on the storage, smart Community and Healthcare businesses.

REVEALED: NBN A Loss Maker

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They’re hardly coining it but NBN made over $356,000 in revenue during H2 last year.


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This revenue was accrued from customers paying National Broadband Network Co for activated high speed fibre services.

But thats nothing to cover expenses which ran into the millions – meaning NBN Co made a loss of $221m in final six months of 2011 – double the $104m loss recorded in H2 2010.

In total the Aussie government footed the loss NBN recorded last year to the tune of $220,567m.

Mike Quigley’s NBN Co also spent $568 million in the six months – $346m capital ex, which included $86m for fibre rollout and $12m on satellite and wireless solutions.

 Another $222m was also spent by NBN Co on operating expenses.

However, it also accrued $29,319m in interest from funds sitting in financial institutions.

It is also likely increased revenue streams will lift NBN Co out of the red in the coming years, with millions of Aussie homes to be connected to the fibre network by 2015.

Other major NBN millstones listed in the government report covering July-Dec 31 was the first new housing development switched on in Western Sydney in September and the launch of Interim Satellite Service on 1 July.

At 31 December, NBN Co had work under way on 92,032 premises and brownfield sites –  12,723 premises and close to 78,000 brownfields, nationally.

14,256 premises have been passed in the mainland and 1,438 are receiving active fibre broadband services over the network, while in Tasmania the total number of premises passed by NBN stands at 3,987; while just 657 are in active service.

But its a slow process from installation to connection to fibre broadband it seems – just 110 ‘new developments’ were activated with high speed broadband by close of 2011 although far more were connected by satellite totalling 2,197 – used in rural locations – and just over 2,000 brownfields.

 

39 Retail Service Providers (RSPs) have signed NBN contracts including the likes of iiNet, Optus and Telstra.

125 of its customers are using existing handsets to make calls over the NBN voice ports and just one telco has successfully connected to IPTV service.

Read NBN 2011 Report Card here

Forget Megaupload! Dotcom’s ‘Megabox’ To Hit

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This is what they don’t want you to have.
Dr Dotcom is back.

And this time he’s even more mega. And social.

“This is what they don’t want you to have. Unchaining artists and fans. Megabox is coming soon”, a YouTube video posted Wednesday by Mr Kim Dotom declared.

Controversial Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom or ‘Dr Dotcom’, who was behind one of the biggest and infamous file sharing services, Megaupload, is about to launch a new free (and legit) music service with tunes from every era (including the 70s and 80s) and genre (dance, chillout, atmospheric and dark ambient) on board.

Radiohead, Arctic Monkeys, David Bowie were among the artists highlighted in 2:08 minute YouTube video posted last week, that has over half a million hits so far.

Megabox also lets members get social with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube integration, ‘Chat’ with fellow music enthusiasts, you can find out ‘what happening near you’ and have access to unlimited cloud storage.

It is also giving members (sign up to an account for free) access to ‘exclusive’ artists and also appears to be offering musicians a platform to promote their wares similar to MySpace, inviting them to “take control of your music career.”

 

The 38 year-old multi millionaire, who resides in New Zealand and is currently under house arrest, has been charged with Internet piracy and copyright infringement. He is believed to have earned US$175 million since 2005 copying and distributing music, films and other copyrighted material, illegally.

He is also wanted by the FBI and faces an extradition hearing next year.

Megabox is due to be live by the end of the year.

Revealed: Samsung Galaxy Android 3.1 Tab Hits June

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Just as it has been forced to hand over the Tab to rivals Apple in a nasty patents battle, Samsung’s updated Android Honeycomb 3.1 is said to be ‘days away.’


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The 10.1″ Tab with newest version of Honeycomb 3.1 announced at Google I/O conference earlier this month is to be released in US on June 8th, just confirmed by Samsung via Twitter.

“What is 10.1 inches of Android 3.0 Honeycomb delight? Only a few days away!”

And the good news is 3.1 OS is “is what Android 3.0 Honeycomb should have launched on,” according to Android Universe.
It also promises to be thinner and lighter (sound familiar?) at 595g.

Well Apple think so too and are currently embroiled in a patents war with Samsung over its Galaxy Tab, which could hit supplies of the device the iPad maker can prove the Korean giant deliberately copied its revered slate.

Read Samsung Forced To Surrender Galaxy Tabs 10.1 & S Phones To Apple here

However, the bad news is for Samsung fans who have recently purchased the 10.1v Tab on Froyo 2.2 released here just this month on Vodafone is a newer model is now available.

Specs wise the Galaxy also includes Flash support and 720p HD video but also added Droid 3.1 extras including resizeable widgets, open accessory API and USB host API.

It will allow connections to Google TV and there will be USB hub support, allowing a full size keyboard, console and other adds on’s connect with ease brining more functionality to between the tab and third party devices.

Its new ‘open accessory’ API means Androids can integrate with musical instruments, exercise and other machines.

It also offers media transfer protocol which helps manage, store and transfer files from cameras and real-time transport protocol API audio which enables VOIP, push-to-talk, conferencing, and audio streaming.

 

Samsung ‘s latest brainchild will set you back US$499 for 16GB and $599 32GB.

No word yet when it will hit here yet. Samsung Australia were not available for comment but here’s hoping it’s soon.