By James Wells
MELBOURNE: Former DGTEC general manager and Sony group sales manager, Steve Rindfleisch, has been appointed as national sales manager – AV for the new Toshiba Australia, and will manage the brand’s consumer electronics products from Melbourne.
Toshiba Australia is the newly formed division of Toshiba Information Systems Division (ISD) which was created when the Japanese consumer electronics manufacturer decided to discontinue its relationship with Melbourne-based distributor Castel Electronics.
Rindfleisch will report to Rob Wilkinson – Toshiba ISD Australia and New Zealand retail business manager, who reports into Toshiba ISD general manager, Mark Whittard.
Most recently the general manager – sales and marketing for two years at set top box manufacturer, DGTEC, Rindfleisch also worked in sales for eight years at Sony Australia including as group sales manager – mass merchants.
“Our message to the market is that it we are under no illusions as to the enormity of the challenge. We are putting together a really strong team and we are all excited to be part of the brand,” Rindfleisch told Current.com.au.
“We have had a really good response from the trade and our key focus will continue to be on LCD television and DVD products including high definition DVD – HD DVD. People are starting to appreciate that the HD DVD story is a lot stronger than they first appreciated and we are confident that our offering is more than relevant in the market.
“We are not in the game just to make up the numbers and we have plans to be a serious force in the AV business,” he said.