After their shares fell 30% some analysts are now tipping Dick Smith as a “buy”.
David Richards
EXCLUSIVE: GM Of Sales Quits LG
Michael Doyle the GM of sales at LG Australia has quit.
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| Michael Doyle right seen at LG industry event. |
Panasonic Scores Big With Lumix Digital Cameras
Panasonic Australia have reported record “value” growth for their Lumix camera range during the past quarter with new GFK data revealing that they are now the #1 “value” vendor in the compact digital camera category. The Company is now on track to sell its one millionth Lumix camera in the Australian market.
Panasonic Australia have reported record “value” growth for their Lumix camera range during the past quarter with new GFK data revealing that they are now the #1 “value” vendor in the compact digital camera category. The Company is now on track to sell its one millionth Lumix camera in the Australian market.
Speaking at the Australian launch of their new Lumix compact and camcorder range Paul Reid, Director, Consumer Electronics Group, Panasonic Australia said that 2009 had Panasonic’s its most successful year in the local digital camera.
He also announced thirteen new Lumix models and four new camcorders at a regional Lumix event held in Melbourne. The new Lumix range includes:
· The flagship LUMIX TZ series – the ultimate travel cameras
· The new, more rugged LUMIX FT2 for the active photographer
· The LUMIX FX68 with the latest lens technology
· The feature-rich LUMIX ZR3 featuring AVCHD Lite High Definition Video
· The stylish new LUMIX FP series
· The everyday, family-friendly FH series
· The entry-level F Series of point and shoot cameras
Reid said the results were particularly pleasing during a time when consumer demand in the category appeared to have stalled.
“Panasonic LUMIX value sales over the Christmas quarter were up 68 per cent compared to total compact value decline of around 14 per cent over the same period.” Mr Reid said.
“Consumers are increasingly turning to Lumix to capture their precious memories and we expect this to continue through 2010. Our largest ever LUMIX range brings advanced, premium features to more accessible, everyday models – giving Australian consumers greater value, versatility and quality.”
EXCLUSIVE: South African Company Close To Snaring The Good Guys Say Insiders
South African-based retailer Steinhoff International, which owns furniture chain Freedom Group, bedding chain Snooze and discount furniture retailer Poco is believed to be close to snaring The Good Guys.
Harvey Norman Surges 8.8% On Improved Retail Trading Data
A $20K tax incentive for small business initiated by the Coalition Federal Government coupled with a boom in house sales has paid off for Australian retailers especially for consumer electronics and appliance retailers.
BREAKING NEWS: Another Senior Exec Quits Samsung OZ
Brad Wright a senior Samsung Australia executive has quit, he is the third executive to quit the Korean Company in weeks.
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New Thin iPod & Phone From Apple
Apple in a partnership with Motorola have unveiled a new cell phone called the “Rokr” and a wafer thin new iPod mini called “Nano”.
The phone plays music downloaded from Apple’s online web site.Apple CEO Steve Jobs made the announcement in San Francisco, capping months of speculation. Also announced is a a pencil-thin iPod called “Nano” will replace the iPod Mini. It is one-third the size of the Mini and holds 1,000 songs.
“It’s impossibly small,” Jobs said at the Moscone Convention Center. “It’s thinner than a No. 2 pencil.” The Nano can store music, games, photos and a calendar. It also has a “screen lock” feature that allows no one except the user to access content.
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| Steve Jobs Launches The New Phone & iPod |
A 4-gigabyte Nano will retail for around $399, and a 2-gigabyte model will sell for around $299. Music-playing cell phones could emerge as a competitor to the iPod, some analysts predict. By branching into phones, Apple would hope to secure its place as the kingpin of digital music regardless of what device is used to listen.
Typically, Apple keeps its new products tightly under wraps, but the new iTunes cell phone has been publicly anticipated for months by analysts and other observers who follow both companies. The phone should be available in Australia from late September through early October “through retail and operator channels”, the companies said in a listing of worldwide release dates.This will revive speculation that Apple may be close to launching its long-delayed iTunes operation in Australia.
Motorola has been known to be working on such a phone for more than a year and in July, company CEO Edward Zander told analysts that a music-enabled phone would be available to customers by the end of September.
Apple in a partnership with Motorola have unveiled a new cell phone called the “Rokr” and a wafer thin new iPod mini called “Nano”.
Apple is hoping to extend its success with the stylish iPods, which are far and away the world’s best selling portable digital audio players, into the vastly larger but more competitive cell phone market. Sales of iPods and of songs through the iTunes Music Store now account for about one-third of Apple’s revenue.
Motorola, meanwhile, is hoping the Rokr iTunes phone carries on the success the company has found in the past year with the equally stylish Razr V3 cell phones, which since their release last November have become one of the hottest cell phones ever introduced.
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Apple and Motorola are hardly the first companies to introduce a cell phone that stores and plays music. In fact, back in November 2000, Samsung launched a mobile phone with a built-in MP3 music player.
Microsoft executives earlier this week tried to blunt the impact of Apple’s announcement by calling journalists to point out that there are about 70 wireless Smartphones or mobile devices that currently on the market that are capable of playing digital music. The devices use Microsofts Windows Mobile or Windows Media software.
“We shipped our first Smartphone in 2002,” said John Starkweather, group product manager for Microsoft’s mobile and embedded products division. “Clearly, music and phones are nothing new.” And while Apple likes to control its own hardware and software, that style won’t work in a cell phone market splintered by numerous wireless carriers and cell phone manufacturers, Starkweather said.
“The challenge for them here is they don’t own the entire experience,” Starkweather said. However, Gene Munster, senior research analyst for Piper Jaffray Co., said Apple’s deal with Motorola could be just the tip of the iceberg. Apple has captured about 75 percent of the MP3 player market, which according to the research firm IDC will amount to 57 million units sold in 2005.
However, the cell phone market is about 13 times larger, with an estimated 774 million cell phones to be sold this year. A Piper Jaffray survey of consumers showed interest in a hypothetical Apple-branded “iPhone.”
Dick Smith To Be Closed Thousands To Lose Jobs, Prosecutions Tipped
As exclusively tipped by ChannelNews Dick Smith receivers Ferrier Hodgson has moved to liquidate the mass retail group as interested parties walked away from the deal.
Is Big W & Masters Set To Flogged Just Like Dick Smith?
Woolworths who are struggling with their Masters and Big W stores could consider flogging the two retail groups in the same way that they offloaded their Dick Smith assets claim analysts.
ASIC Moves In On Dick Smith Directors While Other Retailers Eye Off The Carcass
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission who have more powers, now that Dick Smith has been placed into liquidation, is set to move on former senior executives of the mass retailer with several former executives supplying key information on questionable business activities at the mass retailer.
One interested party is set to enter negotiations to buy the
Dick Smith name and the online operation.



