Grey HP-imports: dollars into euro's into pounds
It's mildly amusing to hear that, despite the fact that some HP products are up to 40 per cent cheaper in non-UK markets, the vendor is still stamping on resellers that source their product through grey market channels.
Grey market channels have been with us since the first days of the PC, and ever since IBM, Novell, Tandy and other early IT vendors adopted a policy of converting dollar figure prices into pounds for the UK.
These days, even the most humble of consumers uses the Internet to check on pricing of commodities, using services such as Dealtime and Kelkoo to check on who is the cheapest and most convenient.
These Web portals are remarkably international in their approach and will even factor in the costs of supplying a product from outside the UK.
This all makes the task for a UK IT reseller all the more difficult, especially when it comes to dealing with major companies, most of whom are beginning to realize that IT products can be sourced from outside the UK.
UK trade channel magazines say that HP is taking legal action against one reseller in the UK for alleged breach of contract and is also imposing spot checks and audits on its resellers and distributors to stamp out grey market imports.
HP claims that these measures demonstrate its commitment to making the reseller channel economically viable in the long term, but one can't help but wonder why it is that HP can sell product at low prices outside the EU territories, presumably at a profit, and then slap on 20 or 30 per cent for the same product inside the EU?
Furthermore, if HP does take its resellers to court, one would also expect the case to be appealed by the reseller to higher courts, on the basis that the contract was unfair, both to the reseller and to consumers. Could this be a case for the EU to look into? HP is treading on very thin ice with its tough new stance against grey market imports in this writer's humble opinion.
Westcoast acquisition of Actebis falls through
Westcoast's ambitious takeover of Actebis, its pan-European German IT distribution opposite number, has failed, with Joe Hemani, the UK distributor's chairman, resigning from his position on the Actebis board just before Christmas.
German media reports quote Actebis as confirming that the acquisition discussions had stopped, but no-one is saying why the deal - which looked pretty cut and dried when it was first announced in September - fell through. Microscope, a UK dealer trade journal, said that some channel sources had suggested that Hemani was unable to secure the funding needed to push the acquisition though, whilst others suggested that he decided to walk away after due diligence between the two firms.
This writer's money is on the former, as banks and other financial institutions have been very wary of the IT distribution channel this last 12 months, with falling profit margins having forced several players, both in the UK and across Western Europe, out of the business.
Time Group in court over PC-in-a-desk design
i-Desk Solutions, a specialist company that builds computer systems into desks for company and educational users, has secured a court injunction against Time Computers' parent firm, stopping the retail giant from selling its integrated desk computers.
According to i-Desk, the judge in the case, Justice Patten, ruled that the Time Group had deliberately and disgracefully attempted to copy and pass off its own systems as i-Desk product. i-Desk's systems, which integrated a slimline PC casing into a desk frame, strapping an LCD monitor on the top, clip into each other to allow a strong interlocking framework to be created for a classroom or office environment. Although i-Desk filed for a patent soon after it started selling its systems in the late 1990s, the company has not secured its patent.
Interestingly, i-Desk says that the court decided that Time had worked on the basis that i-Desk would be unable to take legal action against the computer group, because of its lack patent. Under the court ruling, which will be followed by a full damages hearing later this year, Time was due to pay 200,000 pounds towards i-Desk's legal and associate costs by January 12. The ruling also orders Time Computers to provide i-Desk with details of all the customers who purchased its products.
Krone signs up Computacenter
Krone, the cabling and telecoms group, has signed Computacenter as a PremisNet partner. Krone operates throughout the UK and Europe with a network of 49 branch offices supporting its corporate and government clients.
Across Europe it has more than 2,000 staff deployed at customers premises, implementing, supporting and managing technology for organisations such as BP Amoco, Boots, NatWest and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
The firm says that PremisNET partner status means that Computacenter can offer the full range of PremisNET and TrueNet cabling systems from Krone. According to Krone, Computacenter has achieved its premium reseller status because of its rigorous quality standards, training record and history of installation expertise. The computer reseller's volume commitment to Krone, the size of the company and its sales and marketing strengths were also deciding points.
Commenting on the signing, Nick Norris, Krone's sales director, said that Krone takes a great deal of care who qualifies form PremisNET partner status. 'We select only those companies whose work we can confidently recommend as being to the highest standards and who can offer international sales, implementation and support,' he explained. Neal Silverstein, Computacenter's cabling division manager, said that the high-level reseller only offers systems that are robust and maximize return for its' clients infrastructure investment.
WStore spins off e-commerce software
Veteran online IT retailer WStore - one of the first resellers to embrace the Web in the mid-1990s - has spun off its I-Com e-commerce software development operation.
I-Com will concentrate selling its systems to both resellers and distributors, allowing them to move online and benefit from the cost savings that accrue from online ordering process.
Paul Vass, I-Com UK's manager, said that e-commerce is now returning to the agenda of the reseller channel. E-commerce, he said, is a standard item these days, and the plan is for I-Com to sell its software and services on an application service provider basis.
Using this approach - which has not be tried in the UK reseller and distribution business - is an interesting move, since it relies on the reseller (or distributor) hosting their online store on I-Com's servers out an outsourced basis, only requiring the reseller or distributor to act as a fulfilment operation.
Of course, it was exactly this strategy that Wstore adopted almost a decade ago, when it pioneering online sales for the business sector in what was then very much a face-to-face IT sales environment.
JVC goes down ultra-portable route
JVC has followed Panasonic down the value-added ultra-portable notebook PC route with its new machine, the 905 grams Mini Note MP-XP731. The ultra-portable notebook is said to follow on the success of the earlier two generations of notebooks from JVC and is billed as one of the lightest and smallest machine based around a 1GHz version of the Intel Pentium M processor.
Less than 30 millimeters thick, the MP-XP731 supports the Intel Centrino WiFi technology and features and internal battery together with support for an external power source, whether a JVC external battery or mains power. Using the optional external battery boosts actual working time on the notebook to 9.5 hours. This is despite the machine featuring an 8.9 inch LCD monitor. Luke Prodromou, JVC's product manager, said that, with its boosted graphics and CPU performance, the Mini Note MP-XP731 ensures smooth results when connecting to the Internet, viewing DVDs and image editing. 'In addition, the USB 2 peripherals give users added flexibility and widens the range of mobile applications,' he said.
Despite its small size, the new notebook has 256 MB of RAM and 40 GB hard drive, and can power a range of JVC peripherals, including a DVD/CDRW combo drive, port replicator and external SD card reader/writer. Other multiple interfaces on the 1,399 pound notebook include a PCMCIA card slot, LAN jack and modem port.
Westcoast Distribution, 0044-118-9521500, www.westcoast.co.uk;
Actebis Group, www.actebis.com;
i-Desk, 0044-870-7706890, www.i-desk.co.uk;
Krone UK, 0044-1242-264444, www.krone.co.uk;
I-Com, 0044-870-0113310, www.wstore.co.uk;
JVC UK, 0044-870-3305000, www.jvc.co.uk
Steve Gold (sg@mail.com)