BenQ spreads its market further south

By RICHARD PAMATATAU



Taiwanese electronics maker BenQ will introduce a slew of products into New Zealand for business and home users this year.

The company was formerly Acer Communications and Multi. Acer, known for its personal computers, retains a 5 per cent holding in BenQ.

BenQ, with nearly 15,000 employees, makes everything from cellphones and televisions to laptop computers, flat screens, digital cameras, scanners, mp3 players and projectors, not only for itself but for a wide variety of tech companies. Manufacturing takes place in Taiwan, Malaysia and Mexico.

It has offices in 34 countries, and is looking to open in New Zealand.

Sydney-based Jessica Brown, BenQ Australia national retail business manager, said she was looking for staff and would have probably four people in New Zealand.

BenQ has appointed Tech Pacific as its distributor and last week showcased products to customers.

Brown said BenQ products would initially be sold through Harvey Norman and Retravision, with plans to sell through Pacific Retail Group's stores as well as the Farmers by the end of the year.

Government is also on the slate and Brown is adamant the company can play in that space too.

The company makes cellphones that will operate on GSM and CDMA networks but at this stage has made no decisions about introducing them to New Zealand.

"We are going to start with screens, mp3 devices and laptop computers that are better than those offered by Sony and at a lower price point."

Brown said BenQ sold between 400 and 600 projection devices a month in Australia and she saw a similar opportunity for the company in New Zealand.