How successful is our local IT entrepreneurship? I asked myself this question when I saw Advertlets domain expired last week. It’s too short if I wrote about Advertlets only, how about if I ‘write’ few other brands that is going to take off or something that still around
Advertlets
Advertlets is making history last week. History that they won’t be proud of and history that none of us would have wanted. Kicking of their service last year, the Malaysia’s second advertising company looks promising. They had a great start, was well received by most bloggers, but are now burning down their own business model with the failure to update their domain on time. Whether this is done on purpose to get cheap publicity or is a real unforgettable mistake, the bad is bad enough and had tarnished their own image. I believe that once they’re back, some bloggers will still display their ads especially the newcomers, but for those who has experienced such a bad thing, I don’t think there’ll be any turning back.
My hope
I hope they’ll be back and stronger than ever.
Makcik PC.
Asus eee reminded me of Makcik PC. What a name.. perhaps they’re trying to imitate established brand like Dr Cardin & Dr Martin (shoes), Uncle Ben (rice brand) Auntie Anne’s (pretzels), and Brothers (printing and imaging). Touted as the world slimmest PC, it attracts a lot of attention from media and local bloggers when it was first announced by Prime Minister. The vision of the development of this computer company is to close the gap between rural communities with the town communities and also to provide cheap computer.
When I see Asus eee, I shake my head. Can MakCik PC compete with it. It costs between USD 245 - 399 yet having more functionality compared to Makcik PC which costs around RM 500 - 1000 (USD152 - 305). The Asus was initially expected to cost around 199 but rose up to 245 once it is in production, so I’m expecting Mak Cik PC to cost around RM750 when it is ready in production. Another question popped out. When will it available in store? I’ve no idea.
I expect other computer manufacturers to come out with their own miniPC, and I’m not sure if Makcik PC would be sellable at that time.
My hope
First, I hope MakCik PC will be available as soon as possible before other PC brands release and would be flooding our market.
Secondly, I want it to be as cheap as possible. Gov can subsidize it instead, a little bit in order to fire up the sale.
Third - As usual, quality, support, durability must came up handy.
Read more MakCik PC
A few years back, 1 of the largest computer sellers was Ftec. The ads can be seen daily on Buletin Utama. They set big booths in PC Fair and have had Amber Chia as its product ambassador. Awesome? Yes of course. I feel Ftec can move forward, promoting their product even further and to go global or at least throughout Asian.
But now, Ftec is no longer selling its own product only. Its retail arm, TecAsia will start selling Dell PC on its outlet throughout Malaysia and one of them can be found at Plaza Lowyat (remember I blogged about Dell outlet in Mid Valley last month, finally there is a shop selling Dell products in Plaza Lowyat). What kind of comparison that we can make? It is like HP selling Dell product and vice versa. As an example of Dell and Sony, even though Dell do sell Sony Plasma in its Dell US store, but Dell is not competing with Sony’s product (Dell no longer selling Plasma TV). But in this case, it seems like it is.
My hope
I’m not sure if FTEC brand can be developed further especially after their collaboration with Dell. Obviously, people will choose Dell instead of FTEC, am I right??
These are some of Malaysian brands that I can think of. Tell me what you think. Malaysia Boleh?
