LG Unveils New IT Products
LG Electronics launched a wide range of IT products at a media conference held in Jeddah last week. The South Korean giant unveiled its Blu-ray technology for the first time in the Kingdom. The company also introduced new models in projectors, monitors, flash memory and four new laptops.
“LG is offering unique projectors that combine style and aesthetics with cutting-edge DLP projection by combining the best picture technology from DLP with LG’s proprietary technology and stylish design,” said Timothy Kim, a senior LG executive.
In the notebook division, LG electronics revealed a high-performance 12-inch wide screen computer. With the introduction of the Z1 series, LG has now established a full line-up of premium notebook designs and aims to gain a competitive advantage in the notebook market for 2007, according to another LG executive, Jeff Kim.
LG is also promoting its new line-up of LCD monitors, the FLATRON LX70H series, which are equipped with the contrast-ratio enhancing technology, DFC, allowing the world’s highest contrast ratio available today, 2000:1, which is a significant improvement on the previous 1600:1 contrast ratio.
To go with its Chocolate mobiles, LG showcased its mini-retractable Chocolate style flash drive. The USB drive is a compact, stylish tool for anyone in need of an external storage device. With no cap to lose, it features storage capacities ranging from 1GB to 4GB, and a red eye LED to let you know when it is working. Additionally, there is added security with the password lock feature. This USB has a read speed of 7MB per second and a write speed of 5MB per second.
Many at the press conference were most interested of course in the “Super Multi Blue” Blu-ray Disc Rewriter and HD DVD-ROM Drive (GGW-H10N), which is compatible with both Blu-ray Discs and HD-DVD formats. High definition formats are becoming increasingly popular in the Kingdom. LG has set out to be the leader in the high-definition Saudi market, although they will have competition from Sony and its PlayStation 3 which is due to be launched next month and which comes with a Blu-ray player.
Saudi Arabia is a large consumer of LG product. However, there are no plans to set up production facilities here. Other countries in the region do host LG production facilities including Egypt. Turkey and most recently Iran.
Toshiba Beats Average Market Growth
Toshiba Computer Systems Middle East and Africa continues to fulfill its objective of growing ahead of market growth in Saudi Arabia as confirmed by the latest data from analysts IDC for the last quarter of 2006. With year-on-year growth at 73 percent compared to 2005, Toshiba is growing 17 percent over average market growth in the Kingdom, firmly positioning itself in pole position in the country. Moataz Reda, Saudi Arabia country manager for Toshiba Computer Systems, is confident that the growth can be maintained through 2007. He believes the channel partners will be the key to Toshiba’s success.
“Increased proximity to the channel will be the key to our strategy for 2007,” said Reda. “Throughout 2006, we have seen nothing but increased strength in markets where our relationship with channel partners is strong and very direct. The years of spiked growth are over. The market is now mature and Toshiba has evolved to effectively cater to the current market demands.”
Toshiba’s performance was also very strong in the rest of the Middle East. The GCC countries grew 11 percent ahead of market growth and Egypt saw the company grow at 51 percent from the same period last year, 40 percent over average market growth. The rest of the Middle East countries experienced a 56 percent year on year growth.
Cost of Living Beats Salary Increases
Wages went up 12 percent but the cost of living increased by 20 percent in Saudi Arabia last year, according to a new survey. The cost of living in the Gulf is outstripping salary increases, leading to an increasingly disgruntled work force and a more volatile job market. Salaries in the region went up by 15 percent on average in 2006, but the cost of living shot up by 24 percent — and living expenses went up the most in the UAE.
That was the verdict of a comprehensive online study of Gulf-based professionals by Bayt.com and market research firm YouGovSiraj. The survey interviewed a cross-section of employees in the six GCC countries across more than 20 industry categories, including IT and telecommunications.
Employers in Qatar and Kuwait awarded the highest pay rises in 2006, an average of 17 percent. The UAE was second on the list with 15 percent, but the Emirates recorded the biggest cost-of-living jump in the Gulf — 28 percent. Looking at the regional picture, workers in the private sector fared better than their government peers, earning an average pay hike of around 17 percent compared to approximately 13 percent for public sector employees.
Despite double-digit raises, most Gulf professionals want more — and employees in the UAE and Bahrain consider themselves the most deserving. The raise they felt they “deserved” in 2006 was put at 33 percent, reflecting the higher cost of living in both countries. Employees were the least demanding in Saudi Arabia, where the average “deserved” pay rise was recorded as 27 percent.
So is throwing in the towel the answer to higher earnings? Gulf countries with large expatriate work forces appear the most volatile. In Qatar, 37 percent of the survey’s respondents said they would consider going back to their home country or relocating elsewhere in the Gulf to boost pay. Dubai stands to prosper from the itchy feet of disgruntled Gulf workers. Despite the cost of living in the UAE shooting up 28 percent, according to the Bayt.com/YouGovSiraj survey, nearly half of the polled respondents said Dubai is their preferred place of work.
But the UAE’s many attractions might not include more cash. Kuwait has the highest average monthly salary in the Gulf at $3,100. Saudi Arabia is second with $3,000 and the UAE is in fourth place with an average monthly pay packet of $2,750.
A white paper titled, “GCC Human Resources Overview — Salaries, Cost of Living and Loyalty” summarizes the main findings of the Bayt.com/YouGovSiraj survey and is available online at www.bayt.com.
