Get ‘Start-ed’ on the internet with free tablets from DiGi

Free Android tablets for customers who sign up for the new DiGi Tablet Plan at only RM45 per month

SHAH ALAM, 26 November 2013 – DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (DiGi) is enabling more Malaysians to ‘Start’ their first internet experience and enjoy a rich mobile internet lifestyle, with its latest offer of an affordable tablet plan bundled with a free 7” Start Android tablet at only RM45 per month.

 “According to GFK , an average of 90,000 tablets are sold every month particularly 7” tablets and entry-level tablets. This indicates that Malaysians are looking for more affordable ways to enjoy the internet. We believe this new affordable tablet bundle will lower the barriers of owning a tablet and provide easier access to the internet for more Malaysians, with relevant digital services they desire,” said Praveen Rajan, Head of Products - Internet & Services.

Available for only RM45 per month without a contract, the new DiGi Tablet Plan comes with 1GB quota (500MB for internet and 500MB for Facebook, Twitter and Viki), 300 free SMSes to all local networks, and a Deezer Premium+ subscription. The new bundle offers customers a richer mobile internet experience, providing easy access to the following digital service applications: Opera Mini for unlimited internet surfing, Viki for exclusive first viewing of Korean TV dramas, and Deezer for on-demand access to over 25 million songs from top local and international artistes.

The new DiGi Tablet Plan is now available nationwide at selected DiGi outlets and on the DiGi Store Online.

For more information on the new tablet bundle, visit digi.my/freetablet and more on the Start tablet at: www.jomstart.my.

* Terms and conditions apply

PayPal Survey Shows Smarter, Savvier Malaysians Shop Online This Festive Season To Get 36 Hours Of Their Life Back

Malaysians skip the shopping mall queues to shop online and on mobile devices this festive season
– allowing for more time to be spent with family and friends

Kuala Lumpur, 22 November 2012 – With the ease, convenience and choice of shopping online, savvy Malaysians plan to skip the long queues at shopping malls this festive season and instead click to shop at home or on-the-go. According to a new PayPal survey conducted by GfK to measure the changing ways that consumers shop and pay, Malaysians plan close to half of all their holiday shopping online this year, saving 36 hours of their precious time. This spells good news for Malaysians who are avid shoppers but find shopping a challenge when they have to spend hours stuck in traffic jams, battling the crowds, and then waiting in long queues to pay. With the time they save by shopping online or on mobile devices, 81% of Malaysians would spend more time with their family, 69% would use the extra time relaxing through exercising or taking up a hobby, and 53% intend to hang out more often with their friends.

Online and mobile shopping save precious time for Malaysians
Malaysians expect to shop online 112 times during the festive season and estimate that they would save an average of 3 hours each time they shop online instead of going to a shopping mall.  The top pet peeves for shopping in malls are the trouble finding a parking lot (67%), the long queues at checkout counters (65%), and the battle with crowds (50%). In addition, 40% of the respondents are only willing to wait 5-10 minutes in line at a retail store. With the convenience of online and mobile shopping in their daily lives, time-crunched Malaysians can get 36 hours of their lives back for more important things in life such as:
• For parents: sitting down to dinner with their family every night in December or driving with the family to Port Dickson;
• For ladies: enjoying  a relaxing massage or spa session every day in December;
• For guys: catching all your favourite English Premier League team’s home matches;
• For the young at heart: spending 1.5 days on a safari adventure at Bukit Kinta Rainforest.

“Instead of shopping at overcrowded retail malls and battling traffic and carpark jams, savvier and smarter Malaysian consumers are choosing to shop online and on mobile devices to simplify one of the craziest shopping seasons of the year. Besides saving money, Malaysian shoppers can use online and mobile shopping to get back 36 hours of their precious time for what the holiday season is supposed to be about - spending more time with family and friends, relaxing and celebrating the end of a great year,” said Klas Hesselman, Head of Marketing, Southeast Asia & India.

Mobile and social commerce leading the way this holiday season
2012 continues to be the year for mobile commerce as more and more Malaysians turn to their mobile devices to shop on-the-go.  According to the PayPal survey, two-thirds of Malaysians shoppers expect to shop three or more times a month on their mobile devices this festive season. Smartphones and tablets emerged as the top choice to shop online with during the holiday season by almost half of respondents (47%), followed by the use of laptops (34%) and desktops (18%).  The study also showed that mobile apps are still more popular than mobile websites for Malaysian online shoppers as 75% of respondents prefer to use mobile apps to access online retail stores, 54% would like to use location-based mobile shopping apps to find great deals, and 39% want to scan QR codes shown on advertisements and promotions.

In addition, the PayPal survey revealed that user-generated content on social media platforms have a strong influence on what Malaysians buy during the festive shopping season. For a start, 76% of respondents research online before they shop, and over 68% indicated that reviews – good or bad – would influence their purchase decision.  Interestingly, nearly six out of ten festive shoppers (57%) actively search social networks for shopping deals and promotions, while almost half (49%) were also likely to redeem offers while browsing social media channels like Facebook and Twitter.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday effect felt in Malaysia, too
The Black Friday to Cyber Monday four-day period is one of the largest shopping long weekends in the U.S. where merchants offer massive discounts as the traditional start of the U.S. holiday shopping season.  Savvy Malaysian shoppers know that such sales are no longer exclusive to U.S. consumers and that they can now shop online for the best deals along with the Americans this holiday season.

The PayPal study showed that over one-third (37%) of 1.6 million online shoppers  in Malaysia plan to shop during the Black Friday-Cyber Monday shopping period, with an average spend of nearly RM113 per shopper over this period. The five most popular shopping categories for Malaysians during the Black Friday to Cyber Monday period are clothing (46%), bags and accessories (43%), electronic gadgets (38%), shoes (35%), and fragrances (29%).

Research Methodology
Commissioned by PayPal, GfK conducted the online research survey, ‘PayPal Skip the Queues Survey 2012’ to measure Malaysians’ year-end festive shopping behaviors.  The fieldwork was conducted from October 15 to November 7, 2012 and the survey polled a representative sample of 1,000 Malaysian online shoppers aged 18 and above. The festive shopping season is defined to be the 3-month period from October to December.

TV Genius Takes Relevance to the Next level with GfK Media

Combines award-winning content discovery with market-leading user data to enable true understanding of audience behaviour

London, UK & Amsterdam, The Netherlands – September 8th 2011 – TV Genius, part of Red Bee Media, one of the world’s leading media management companies, today announced that it has formed a groundbreaking partnership with GfK Media, a major international market research agency, to further enhance the relevance of its award-winning Content Discovery Platform. The partnership combines TV Genius’ search and recommendation solution for TV content with GfK Media’s audience research expertise to provide operators and content owners from around the world with a highly relevant, market-specific solution for content discovery.

“We’re seeing increasing interest from TV operators and media owners around the world in finding out more about what drives TV viewing, to understand audience engagement with video content, as well as measuring what they are watching,” said Nick North, Chief Marketing Officer, GfK Media. “By combining data we collect about the audience with the relevance of the TV Genius platform, operators are now able to bring highly targeted content and recommendations to their consumers while avoiding any potential privacy issues. The power of the partnership between GfK Media and TV Genius enables operators to know more about their viewers than ever before, empowering them to provide truly personalized TV experiences.

GfK’s business information services provide the essential knowledge that industry, retail, the healthcare, service sectors and the media need in order to make their business decisions. This unique partnership sees GfK Media integrate its research about the TV audience with TV Genius’ Content Discovery Platform. Deployed by companies including BSkyB, ITV, and SESAstra, TV Genius makes it easy to keep television relevant while evolving with the rapidly changing TV marketplace.

“We understand that the way in which viewers watch television, their likes and dislikes, and their habits varies in different countries and in different cultures. As a result of the combination of our highly relevant platform and GfK Media’s market-specific data, operators no longer need to second guess their consumers – they can understand their exact needs and desires,” said Tom Weiss, General Manager, TV Genius at Red Bee Media. “We’re seeing an increasing number of global opportunities to bring relevant content discovery to operators seeking to deploy key differentiators in a crowded landscape. We’re delighted to partner with GfK Media and look forward to developing more solutions together in the future.”

Tom Weiss and Nick North will be joined by Bart de Wijs, Head of Digital at Veronica, for an IBC Business Briefing on Sunday September 11th, 16.30 -17.30 entitled “Viewers Like This: Measuring Engagement Through the Power of Social”. The session is free to attend in Room G103 and will be moderated by William Cooper, Founder & Chief Executive of informitv.

TV Genius was acquired by Red Bee Media in August 2011. TV Genius’ technologies are an integrated part of Red Bee Media’s portfolio and the core driver behind innovative and intelligent features for its content discovery offering and RedPlayer solution set. Red Bee Media is a world-leading media management company that provides multi-platform technology and creative solutions to broadcasters, content rights holders, platform operators and brand owners.

HP Wins Buyers Laboratory Inc. and GfK Asia awards

L-R: Jennifer Chan, General Manager, Malaysia & Singapore, GfK Marketing Services (M) Sdn Bhd handling over GfK Asia Awards for the No.1 Brands in 2007 Multifunction Printers Category to Serene Ho, Market Development Manager, Business Imaging Printing, Imaging & Printing Group, HP Malaysia

MALAYSIA, Kuala Lumpur, 10 July 2008 – Hewlett-Packard Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) recently awarded with two awards namely Buyers Laboratory Inc. (BLI) for its monochrome and colour printers and GfK Asia Award for Multifunction Printers category.
In the personal monochrome printer category, the HP LaserJet P1005 was selected as BLI’s “Pick” winner. A low-priced desktop laser printer, the LaserJet P1005 provides strong reliability and excellent ease of use. “The LaserJet P1005 is an outstanding choice for a personal printer,” said BLI Technical Analyst Marc Bussanich. “The unit is small and fast. Even better, it provides dark, crisp text and better overall image quality than many of its competitors.”

“Once again, HP is honoured to receive recognition from Buyers Lab Inc. for the HP LaserJet P1005,” said Yan Yoke Ping, Country General Manager, Imaging and Printing Group, Hewlett-Packard (M) Sdn Bhd. “With innovative features such as HP Instant-on Technology, a fuser technology saving up to 50 percent in power consumption, and a redesigned print cartridge with new toner that uses 15 percent less energy than previous toner models, the HP LaserJet P1005 is an ENERGY STAR qualified printer that delivers outstanding performance while helping customers, including home and micro-businesses, make an environmentally responsible choice.”
The HP Color LaserJet CP6015dn also received a BLI “Pick” award in the large workgroup colour printer while the multifunction printer based on the same engine, the Color LaserJet CM6040f, was recognized in the printer MFP category. “The CP6015dn and the CM6040f offer users dark text, smooth lines and good colour output at a competitive price,” said BLI Senior Test Technician Tony Maceri. “And with HP’s standard security features and extensive colour access controls, business users have multiple options to control the output devices on their networks.”

“We are honoured that Buyer’s Lab has chosen the HP Color LaserJet CP6015dn printer and HP Color LaserJet CM6040 MFP as the ‘Outstanding Large Workgroup Colour Printer’ Picks of the Year for their exceptional colour printing capabilities. The HP Color LaserJet CP6015 printer series is a complete A3 business document creation centre featuring innovative colour print technologies, broad media support and advanced finishing features that deliver in-house publishing without the need to outsource. Designed as HP’s most powerful, productive and cost-effective printer series to date, the HP Color LaserJet CP6015 printer series is ideal for technical and creative professionals working in an enterprise setting,” said Yan Yoke Ping, Country General Manager, Imaging and Printing Group, Hewlett-Packard (M) Sdn Bhd.

"The MFP is designed for maximum colour performance and large office workgroup productivity, the HP Color LaserJet CM6040f MFP is HP's top-of-the-line colour laser MFP. In addition to its print, copy, scan and fax capabilities, this feature-rich package also includes HP's fastest A3 print speed at up to 40 pages-per-minute for both colour and black-and-white, advanced finishing options, robust security and the HP Easy Select Control Panel," continued Yan.

Receiving a “Pick” in the A4-size inkjet printer category, the HP Officejet Pro K5400dtn provided an outstanding performance in BLI’s tests. “The Officejet Pro K5400 offers very good ease of use, with highly automated installation, an easy-to-use driver and very good feedback to the workstation regarding errors,” said BLI Test Technician Joe Ellerman. “Also an economical choice, the unit is priced less than competitive units and offers a low cost per page.”

"The HP Officejet Pro K5400dtn delivers professional quality colour results at fast print speeds of up to 35 pages per minute, for up to 50 percent lower cost per page than comparable lasers*. We are proud to have the HP Officejet Pro K5400dtn recognized as the 'Pick of the Year' for Outstanding Inkjet Printer by Buyer's Lab Inc. - this reflects HP's strong tradition of innovation and our ability to bring affordable, high quality colour printing to businesses" Yan added.

HP Multifunction Printers has also won the No. 1 Award in 2007 for GfK Asia No. 1 Awards for four consecutive years for the Multifunction category. GfK No.1 Awards is presented to the top-selling brand, based on GfK retail audit data, in each category, and in each country in the Asia Pacific region.

“HP Multifunction Printers is always well known for its ease of use and reliability. We are proud to win this award for four consecutive years” Yan concluded.

LCD TV – Samsung is No 1 in Malaysia for the second year running

Samsung targets 100,000 LCD TVs in 2008
Samsung tops LCD TV sales in Malaysia - GfK Malaysia General Manager Jennifer Chan presents the No 1 LCD TV award to Samsung Malaysia Product Manager Gary Lim.

Samsung reaffirmed its market leadership in the growing LCD TV market in Malaysia, capturing 28 per cent of the total market share last year, according to market research agency, GfK Malaysia.

Samsung also emerged No 1 in the overall TV market, covering CRT (cathode ray tube) and plasma apart LCD with a 15 per cent market share.

Last year, Samsung extended its lead in the LCD TV market in Southeast Asia and Oceania, with unit sales crossing the 600,000 mark on the back of a phenomenal 174 per cent growth by volume.

“2007 has been a great year for Samsung in Malaysia and the No 1 certification (from GfK) for the second consecutive year speaks a lot of Samsung flat panel TVs with technology innovations and design excellence,” said Samsung Malaysia Electronics (SME) Sdn Bhd Product Manager, Gary Lim.

“We will leverage on our recently launched 2008 line-up of LCD TVs – Series 3, 4, 5, and 6 – to deliver the ultimate home entertainment experience to the Malaysian homes,” he added.

The flagship Series 6 Full HD LCD TV incorporates an impressive dynamic contrast ratio of 50,000:1, 100Hz Motion Plus technology and the breakthrough Crystal Design, an infusion of artistry and innovating in the molding process for a cleaner and sleeker finish.

Mr Lim said Samsung Malaysia aimed to make further inroads this year, adding: “We are targeting 100,000 units this year and we are confident of achieving it with out outstanding line-up of new LCD TVs which combines state-of-the-art design with impeccable design.”

The No. 1 award certification is based on the cumulative volume sales of selected key product categories or sub-categories within the various consumer electronics, home appliances, imaging, Consumer IT and Consumer telecommunication products tracked by GfK Asia as per GfK’s Retail Audit data from January to December 2007. Only one brand per product group or sub product group in each country is awarded the No. 1 award and the brands must be in general distribution in each country.