The annual Consumer Electronics Show Australasia got off to a fine start on 13 June, with a series of press briefings between 10 am and midday, when the show opened to the public.

 

June 2002: The annual Consumer Electronics Show Australasia got off to a fine start on 13 June, with a series of press briefings between 10 am and midday, when the show opened to the public.

Held in the Hordern Pavilion at Fox Studios, it provided a good venue for manufacturers to showcase their latest products and display their current ranges.

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Business manager, Denis Conroy, shows off the new Panasonic
e.wear product range, on display on the company”s stand .

Panasonic took advantage of the event to announce its new range of e.wear mobile audio-visual technologies”, which rely on the increasing storage capacity of SecureDigital cards to provide go-anywhere entertainment products. Highlight of the range is the SV-AV10 four-in-one digital camcorder/still camera/audio player/ voice recorder, which weighs only 98 g and has a flip-out 2-inch LCD screen. Still images are recorded as JPEG files at VGA resolution, while movies are stored as MPEG4 video.

Other e.wear products include the SV-SD80, which is claimed as the world”s smallest audio player and weighs only 28 grams and theSV-SR100 audio recorder that dubs music directly to an SD card. Images can be printed with the SV-P10 mobile printer, which delivers business-card-sized prints on adhesive or plain paper.

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Highlight of the e.wear range is the ultra-compact SV-AV10
digital camera/camcorder/ audio recorder-player, which is
small enough to slip into a pocket.

Sony emphasised the lifestyle connectedness message, with an impressive display of products including the new Clie PDA, WEGA plasma television sets, VAIO computers, AIBO robotic dogs and the current range of digital still and video cameras. The company stressed the importance of its Memory Stick technology as the link between many of its products and showcased most of its personal entertainment items in simulated home settings.

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Sony Australia MD, Toshi Mashima, outlines his company”s
product development philosophies to media representatives,
emphasising the importance of inter-connected devices in consumer electronics.

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Small products, connected via Memory Stick technology, were a highlight at Sony”s display.

Although Ricoh had a comparatively small presence at the show, its stand was packed with popular products, including the new DVD writers and Vivitar-branded digital cameras. According to national sales manager, Stuart Pickersgill, these products are selling like hot cakes” due to their keen pricing and attractive features. The company also showcased a range of CD and DVD media, which have also become sought-after in the current marketplace.

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Stuart Pickersgill, pictured with a new Vivitar branded digital camera and some
of the optical media products that are making the Ricoh brand a hit.

A new brand to appear at the show was Benq, which has been the brand name for Acer products since late last year. As well as its regular line-up of computer products, the Benq stand features a new range of digital still cameras, with sensor resolutions ranging from under 1 megapixel to 3-megapixels and over. Managing director, Sunny Zeng, is promising some exciting additions in the second half of the year.

The show is open from 10 am to 6 pm until Sunday 16 June.