Wednesday 26 October 2011

Paradigm shift for the youth with iPads?









There has always been a race for a US 100 dollar laptop to supply the masses and the under-privileged and while this dream is not yet a reality, it appears the emergence of the iPad will, nonetheless, be playing a part in making it possible for the underprivileged and poor to have access to a computer, the Internet and unlimited knowledge.

This is according to Christopher Riley, MD of The Notebook Company, one of the country’s leading notebook and accessories retailers – and a large supplier of iPads.

“Many people are saying iPads are just too expensive and will be beyond the reach of the masses. You can pick up an iPad for as little as US 400 dollars, but this is arguably still out of the reach of many. But the easy-to-use features and the Internet capacity of iPads are nonetheless changing the world of computing. As iPads become more ubiquitous and start to replace more and more laptops, we will see prices come down – and then we may see some paradigm shifts,” said Riley.

Indeed, Apple’s iPad has had a massive impact on the local market, so much so, that retailers in South Africa have noted an increase in sales of the device, which has led to the decline in the sale of PCs and laptops. Tablets aren’t killing personal computers yet, but they are making consumers think long and hard before buying laptops.


RILEY SAID IPADS HAVE CREATED A ‘PARADIGM SHIFT’. “IPADS HAVE GALVANISED THE SHIFT TO TABLETS, WHICH ARE FAST-BECOMING THE COST EFFECTIVE SOLUTON FOR THE MASSES. INDEED, IF IT WERE NOT FOR THE INVENTION AND ARRIVAL OF THE IPAD, THE PHENOMENON OF THE TABLET WOULD NOT HAVE OCCURRED.”


Consulting firm Gartner recently lowered its PC shipment forecast for 2011 and 2012, saying soaring sales of tablets will result in far fewer notebook and netbook sales over the next two years than originally expected. “We expect growing consumer enthusiasm for mobile PC alternatives, such as the iPad and other media tablets, to dramatically slow mobile PC sales,” said George Shiffler, research director at Gartner.

Gartner expects tablet sales of 54 million in 2011, up from 15 million iPads sold by Apple – alone – in 2010.

Tuesday 11 October 2011

THE NOTEBOOK COMPANY promotes Dell via Laptop.co.za/Dell Instead of DellLaptop.co.za


DELL
After heading for what seemed like an expensive court battle, The Notebook Company (Notebook.co.za and Laptop.co.za) - a leading notebook and accessories retailer and on-line retailer - has agreed to have the domain name DellLaptop.co.za deleted and will now promote Dell Laptops underLaptop.co.za/Dell. The company has also replaced the Dell Logo on its websites: www.laptop.co.za and www.notebook.co.za with "Dell PartnerDirect Registered" logos in terms of what was requested by Dell.

This follows four months of ongoing negotiations after Dell informed The Notebook Company – via its lawyers, Adams & Adams – that all the Dell logos must be removed from any signage, websites or material material displayed by The Notebook Company.
Until recently it looked as if the companies were poised for a court battle.
Said Christopher Riley, Ceo of The Notebook Company: “Dell owns the trademark, and we seem to have no right using it without their permission, even though we have sold their products for over 10 years. We also buy from their official distribution channel - During this period  we have also  been made a ‘Dell PartnerDirect Registered’ agent.    
 “I am still of the belief that you will not find this kind of silliness from other brands that have used the channel for a long time. Technically, each time you see an advert using logos of products such as HP, Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba, Acer  from a retailer they should have received permission from  the trademark holder to display the logo. We all know this does not happen. But there seems to be a gentleman's agreement that if you don't create damage for my brand I will allow you to use my brand's name in adverts and materials without pointing out the technicalities of the law to you.
It still concerns me that Dell makes is quite difficult for prospective customers to find retailers of its products - We still have difficulty promoting Dell even through Google - Dell is not allowed in the advert text - Making it difficult to say - We sell Dell!