HOME Comguard extends Kaspersky rights to India
Dubai-based VAD Comguard has been appointed as a national distributor for Kaspersky in India. Under the terms of the deal, Comguard will distribute Kaspersky’s enterprise solutions across India. Comguard has been associated with Kaspersky as its regional distributor for corporate products in the Middle East region since 2006.
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Strong first half sales for Challenger
Singapore-based retailer Challenger posted sales of S$157.8m (US$125m) for the six months ending June 30th 2013 – a 22% year-on-year increase. The increase was primarily driven by sales growth of the retailer’s Singapore business. Net profits for the first half jumped 18% year-on-year to hit S$7.4m (US$5.9m).
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Courts prepares for Indonesia expansion
South East Asia ICT and consumer electronics (CE) retailer Courts is on course to have its first store in Indonesia operational by 2014. The retailer already has operations in Singapore and Malaysia with Indonesia marking the next step in its regional expansion plan. Terence O’Connor, Courts Asia’s executive director and group CEO, said: “We are excited by our progress in Indonesia, especially with the signing of the memorandum of understanding with Sinar Mas Land to develop our first two big box megastore outlets in the country with long term leases.”
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Cirkuit Planet buys 20% stake in My World Group
Accessories vendor Cirkuit Planet has snapped up a 20% stake in Chinese manufacturer My World Group as it looks to enter the smartphone and tablets market. My World Group has significant research and development capabilities and Cirkuit Planet believes the deal will also benefit its existing accessories and peripherals business.
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Rashi Peripherals picks up Intel rights in India
Indian distributor Rashi Peripherals has added Intel to its vendor portfolio. Under the terms of the deal, Rashi Peripherals will push Intel’s complete portfolio and will look to open up new channels for the vendor. Rashi Peripherals has channel reach across 650 towns and cities in India through an extensive network of 59 branch offices across the country.
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Krusell joins Nokia accessory programme
Swedish case vendor Krusell has signed up as a member of the official ‘Works with Nokia’ accessories programme. The agreement allows Krusell to manufacture and market Krusell carrying cases under the ‘Works with Nokia’ label.
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Microsoft bets US$7.2 billion on Nokia deal
Technology giant Microsoft has bet US$7.2 billion cash on a deal to purchase Nokia’s handset business. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014. Microsoft reckons that buying Nokia lock, stock and barrel will allow it to accelerate sales of mobile devices running Windows Phone through faster innovation, plus unified branding and marketing.
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Rapid growth predicted for smartwatch shipments
The numbercrunchers at Juniper Research reckon that global smartwatch shipments will hit 36 million units per annum by 2018 driven by new multifunction device capabilities. Juniper’s crystal ball sees rapid growth for the nascent product category in the years ahead. For 2013, smartwatch shipments are expected to reach 1 million units.
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JB Hi-Fi reports full year results
Australia-based ICT and consumer electronics (CE) retailer JB Hi-Fi has reported sales up 5.8% year-on-year at AUD$3.31 billion (US$3.05 billion) for the year ending June 30th 2013. Sales for the second half of the fiscal year were up 10.3% year-on-year. JB Hi-Fi’s gross margin climbed to 21.5% from 21.1% and pre-tax margins inched up to 5.4% compared to 5.2% the previous fiscal year.
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Storage Products Association (SPA) established
Storage giant WD has set up a new association to promote magnetic storage technologies. WD has teamed up with other hard drive companies to establish the Storage Products Association (SPA). The SPA, which also includes HGST, Seagate and Toshiba as members, plans to make consumers and professionals aware of how critical hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state hybrid drives (SSHDs) are to their digital lives.
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