By Craig Zammit
SYDNEY: Toshiba Australia has confirmed that the Qosmio G30 notebook with integrated HD-DVD drive will be released in Australia next month, making it the first high definition DVD product to be released anywhere in Australia and New Zealand.
Toshiba has revealed it also plans to incorporate HD-DVD technology into some of its future products.
“Over time this technology will flow into other products; this is simply our first product to include it,” Codrington told current.com.au.
“In the last two and a half years we’ve been the first to market with 15-inch and 17-inch widescreen notebooks, Pentium 4, Centrino, notebook DVD burner technology and more. At least 90 per cent, if not all, new (notebook) technologies have been launched in Toshiba notebooks first.”
Toshiba will also upgrade its existing notebook range this month, including the Satellite P100 (RRP $2,799 to RRP $3,699) with 17-inch widescreen and Intel Duo processor, the lightweight Satellite M100 (RRP $1,599) with 14.1-inch widescreen, the compact Satellite M50 (RRP $1,299) with 14-inch widescreen and Intel Celeron processor and the Satellite A100 (RRP $1,999) with Intel Duo processor.
The entry level Celeron Satellite A100 is priced below the pivotal $1000 price point at RRP $999, which according to Codrington represents the changing market, with retailers simply shifting units, as opposed to actually selling to the customer and looking for add-on opportunities.
“As a product like this becomes more commoditised, retailers start shifting units as opposed to selling products, they don’t offer service. Retailers need to make sure they are adding value and selling up. We want to provide a very clear add on strategy to retailers, as their role is to sell up as much as possible, and this will of course benefit both them and the consumer,” he said.
The new notebook upgrades come as part of Toshiba’s quarterly product release schedule, a strategy designed to keep both retailers and consumers up to date with new trends and technological advancements.
“Toshiba has been doing this for over five years in retail, it allows us to engage the latest technology as it comes to market, which is important for consumers. It also allows us to take advantage of price drops,” said Codrington.
“As with any device or appliance, the technology is going to keep moving. The way the customer can look at it is that they can buy the latest products and get the best value, and they can buy at any point in time knowing they are getting the latest technology.