On CE - For Dealers, Distributors and OEMs of Consumer Electronics throughout EMEA

If you entered from the South entrance, there was something new this year at IFA Berlin. Berlin’s famous brown good show turned white, white as a ghost.

The ghost of appliances, that is. This year an exclusive exhibition area measuring 25,000 square metres in Halls 1.1 to 4.1 was earmarked for HOME APPLIANCES@IFA.

There’s this photo of Miss IFA precariously perched on a Siemens appliance and what a perfect visual analogy. The relationship between white goods and brown goods has been tenuous at best throughout the years. And Miss IFA won’t be comfortable for the long term on that appliance either.

The ghost of major appliances has haunted consumer electronics ever since an appliance store first decided to add a new product called TV to its product mix. Appliance/TV was one channel, radio/TV another and furniture/TV was a third.

Inside the ICP@CeBIT pavilion in Reseller Planet at CeBIT, we were surprised to see the stand of Al-Futtaim Electronics.

We recognized Al-Futtaim from their position in the Middle East market where they represent brands like Volvo, Alactel, Toys R Us, Toshiba, Panasonic and more.

A part of the nature of the Middle East market reflects the nature of their dominant trading partners: the factories of Asia. In Korea, they have chaebols and in Japan the zaibatsu. These are generally family owned trading companies that grew into conglomerates with diverse interests.

Al-Futtaim’s growth (more than 70 companies in the group) reminds us of Mitsui Trading and other Asian traders. Today Al-Futtaim has inside its conglomerate, an impressive group of electronics companies. Maybe you recognize the high street retailer, Plug-Ins. Or the pan-MEA product service company, Tech Serve. There’s Panatech, the exclusive Panasonic distie.

On the retail side, there’s IKEA, ACE HARDWARE and Toys R Us in the Al-Futtaim group.

So which company of the group has a stand at CeBIT?

Gouri Shankar represents the Global Trading Division of Al-Futtaim Electronics. GTD sells branded electronics from CE, IT, home appliances and telecom industries.

And when Shankar says “branded,” he really means “big brands.” In CE and home appliances, we’re talking Sharp, Sony, Sanyo, Samsung, LG, Nintendo, Apple and, of course, Panasonic. In mobile phone , the brands are Nokia, Motorola, LG, Samsung Sony Ericsson and even HTC. For IT, Al-Futtaim sells Intel, Seagate, Toshiba, HP, Acer, Hitachi and Western Digital.

“We sell only branded,” notes Shankar. “We have a responsibility to quality in these three areas [CE/Home appliances, IT, Telecom].”
 
“Although the world is shrinking day by day, our principals are not in every market. And in peak selling season, demand outstrips supply. Product always seems to be in the wrong places at the wrong time. Currency fluctuations are more volatile than years before.”
 
“So we have a lot of customers and vendors in Europe. CeBIT is wonderful to meet everybody at the same time. 2007 was a turbulent year for everyone. Real traders were not at CeBIT and were getting on with business. This year traffic is good and the quality of attendee is up. We’re seeing the type of customer that’s in it for the long haul and not the quick buck.”
 
Check out the Al-Futtaim group…

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it" target="_blank">Global trading at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

OK, as a retailer or installer you’ve seen many soundbars now, all with the iPod sticking up like a candle on a birthday cake.

But Orbitsound’s T12 spatial stereo TV soundbar with iPod dock (and subwoofer) comes with a unique selling point that’s both demonstrable and effective at retail.

Other soundbars digitally re-create spatial stereo while the T12 produces spatial sound using its airSOUND™ single point stereo reproduction. 

airSOUND does not produce stereo in way normal “left-right”audio works. Instead it focuses on the original principles of stereo that separates left and right information from the main signal and reproduces this “space” in a form that mixes in the air. (See the maker’s explanation below.) You can stand (or sit) anywhere within the stereo sound field. For positioning you only need to make sure the sides of the soundbar are not obstructed.

T12 can provide your customers both a big screen sound upgrade for flat screen TV or instant iPod station in the home.

Consumer electronics moves into fashion and fashion moves in mysterious ways. Some interesting designs that include ANIMALS come to mind:  examples include Nabaztag the Wi Fi rabbit and the Hannspree TV range with giraffes, lions and monkey.

Now meet the iPIG.

 Uh, no. iPIG is on LEFT. To the right is my friend Martin Vukovic, Sales Manager for CEE for New Universe. Follow his finger and you'll see iPIGs glow at the mouth and come in diffferent colors.

The fun shaped iPig speaker is a multimedia speaker with iPod & iPhone dock, for accessorising iPod, iPhone, or MP3 player, PC, notebook, DVD, PSP.

The iPig speaker actually packs an audio punch with 2.1 channel sound. With some “tender petting” of the ears you can control the volume (or if you are pig-ear phobic like some picky types, just use the supplied remote control.)

The iPig speaker is finished in high gloss PC material with a mirror surface and supplied in several colours, including pink, white and yellow. Maker NU says, "for a more abundant sound you can connect five together and have the feel of a surround home theatre." Make a Pig's Ear of it, you say!

Go iPIG