DUBAI, 12 October 2004 — GITEX Computer Shopper, the consumer arm of the Middle East’s largest technology exhibition, concluded on Friday with a visitor count of 108,000, surpassing projected growth figures. The overall positive feedback from the Shopper has been attributed to upbeat buyer sentiment, attractive independent promotions by resellers and excellent support by vendors to resellers to create “never-before” deals and promotions.
Brands available included Acer, HP, Dell, IBM, Samsung, Sony, Hitachi, Microsoft, JVC, Nokia, Canon, Lexmark, Nikon, Toshiba, Sharp and Siemens to name just some. Consumers were offered a wide variety of technologies in areas such as home entertainment, mobile technology, gaming, hardware and digital imaging at the seven-day event.
The most popular item at the Shopper wasn’t for sale. Visitors were fascinated with Sony’s corporate ambassador QRIO (pronounced “curio”), the biped entertainment robot. Three of the QRIO robots were part of Sony’s show at GITEX. The robots spoke to the audience in English and Arabic before dancing along to some Arabic music. The robots’ other talents include kicking and throwing a ball and even putting a golf ball.
The robots were originally built as electronic companions for the home but now Sony is working to expand the scope of their use. After GITEX the robots move on to India where UNESCO will be using them to explain science to children in an interactive manner.
Sony’s “PlayStation Experience” at the shopper was very popular again this year. Thousands of youths came daily to try out the latest PlayStation games with their friends. “The Getaway — Black Monday” was a big hit with boys, while “Singstar Party,” Sony’s karaoke game was favored by the girls. Sony spokesman, Ehab Yasin said Singstar Party II would be released in November. Singstar Party II will come with a CD of 30 songs, official videos and two microphones for 179 dirhams. Yasin said Singstar Party II will be released in English and some European languages. He added that Sony hopes that the next Singstar release will be available in Hindi.
While the Sony presence at the Shopper was impressive, it was also a bit of a disappointment this year as the company decided to limit the PlayStation games on display to titles developed by Sony. While Sony wanted to maximize the promotion of their own PlayStation titles, it seemed mean spirited to have excluded other publishers who develop for the PlayStation platform. If other publishers had joined in — even for a fee — the PlayStation Experience would have been much richer.
Of course, the shows and fun were just sidelights to the real reason for GITEX Shopper. Basically everyone was there to get in on some of the best bargains in the region. How good were the prices? “The prices are so good at GITEX Shopper that we can’t keep the products in stock,” said Vishal S. Atmaramani, business development manager, Tangerine. “Without a doubt Acer’s TravelMate 4001 LCi notebook computer has been the hottest selling item at the shopper. Each Acer reseller is getting 40 of those machines daily and they are selling out in hours.”
It was easy to see why. Acer made the TravelMate 4001 LCi with Intel Centrino Technology, 256MB DDR SDRAM, 40GB HDD and 802.11 g wireless available for sale at 3,299 dirhams at the Shopper. That was 700 less than the cost before GITEX. It was an amazing price for a branded notebook and set the bar very high for Acer’s competitors. Other vendors were only offering notebooks with Celeron processors for the price of the Acer machine equipped with a Centrino.
There were loads of other amusing prices. Prima International had a 42” plasma TV for 6,999 dirhams. HP’s iPAQ h6340 Pocket PC bundled with a digital camera was 2,750 dirhams. The Nokia N7610 with Bluetooth headset was 2,145 dirhams. The Palm Zire 72 with a 64MB memory card was 1,145 dirhams and the 40GB Apple IPOD MP3 player went for 1,899 dirhams.
While the bargains were in abundance there were some unhappy sidelights to the Shopper. Many products did not include international or even Middle East warranties. That was a disappointment for visitors from out of town. Plus, even though the GITEX organizers claimed that credit cards would be widely accepted at the Shopper, most vendors didn’t want to take them. With margins so thin, vendors didn’t want to pay fees to the credit card companies. Basically the best bargains at the Shopper were made available to those individuals who could produce cash.
