Altech signs Samsung notebooks, MPIO

Altech is now selling Samsung’s entire IT product line following an agreement to distribute the company’s notebook range.

At the same time, it has jumped into the MP3 player market, signing Korean supplier MPIO.

Safa Joumaa, general manager of sales and marketing at Altech, said the distributor has now become a complete Samsung IT house and was the only wholesaler that carried the entire Samsung range.

It already distributes the company’s range of LCD monitors, hard drives, printers and memory products.

"Getting the notebooks is the important factor because not many people are doing the notebooks very well," he said.

Samsung product sales to the reseller channel would reach around $2.5 million per month within 12 months, Joumaa said.

Joumaa said Altech is sticking with 'branded' notebook suppliers because “there’s no money to be made” in the white-book market. “Brands are wiping them out,” he said.

Meanwhile, Altech wants to grab a share of the huge MP3 player with MPIO but faces some mighty competition from the likes of the Apple iPod and the Creative range of MP3s.

Joumaa claimed MPIO was ranked among the top three MP3 manufacturers worldwide and the products incorporated features such as dictaphone capabilities, alarm clock functions and radios.

“This along with their long battery life, outdoor advertising and celebrity sponsorships including well-known names such as Three Doors Down, Kelly Osborne and Brian McKnight has allowed them to take a big chunk of the [global] market.”

The distributor said MPIO had captured a 40 percent share of the MP3 market in Canada.

In other distribution news, Synnex has signed a new agency with LG Electronics as the distributor strives to be the number one LCD display supplier, according to Frank Sheu, managing director at Synnex.

Synnex is distributing LG’s range of display, optical and notebook products. Sheu said LG has been the most “rigorous” competitor to the Lite-on optical brand.

LG would add another $25 million to $30 million to Synnex’s sales this year, Sheu said.