Focus on Pakistan: Panasonic to step up activities next year

Company launches new projectors, tablet at Dubai fair.

DUBAI: With an increasing focus on the Middle East and Africa region, Panasonic is eager to step up its activities in Pakistan next year in an effort to capture a market that it says offers a high potential.

“We have not been very active in Pakistan, but we will enhance our activities next year through our representatives there,” Panasonic Marketing Middle East and Africa Managing Director Masao Motoki said.

He was talking to The Express Tribune earlier this week at GITEX 2013, the region’s premier IT exhibition, where the Japan-based company unveiled world’s first 20-inch tablet with 4k resolution and lamp-free professional projectors.

In the exhibition, which began on October 20 and will continue until October 24, a host of big names are participating including Samsung, Oracle, Huawei, Acer, Dell, Intel, Toshiba, LG and others.



The launch of Panasonic products comes as it strives to keep its market share in certain categories in the face of growing demand for Samsung products. Panasonic is focusing more on high-end devices like projectors and tablets to win consumers.

“Though our revenues have grown 104% so far in 2013-14 – Japanese year runs from April to March – profit is the same as last year,” Motoki said. “We are focusing more on projectors and tablets.”

The company recorded consolidated net sales of 7.3 trillion yen for the year ended March 2013.

According to company executives, the lamp-free projector series are an alternative to conventional lamp systems, which have a short life span, with a combination of LED and laser diodes.

The new projectors, comprising four models, have a life span of 20,000 hours, which is equivalent to more than two years of continuous use without the need to replace a lamp or change a filter, they say.

Executives say the company has invested $7 million in producing the state-of-the-art projectors. Overall, it spends 10% of revenues annually on research and development work on all types of projectors.

Alongside the projectors, Panasonic unveiled the Toughpad 4k, said to be world’s first 20-inch tablet with a 4k resolution display for the ME and Africa markets.

Priced at $5,000 and pre-installed with Windows 8.1 Pro, the tablet can be used for video conferencing, digital viewing with 4k resolution, collaborative working with touch screen capabilities and have an electronic touch pen for accuracy and sketching.

The company expects to sell 30,000 tablets of all types worldwide in the next one year.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2013.

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