Altec takes on Creative

Altec Lansing, the USbased audio company is planning to get more aggressive
in the Indian market. The company started its India operations two-and-a-half
years ago when it appointed Trifin Information Technology as the distributor for
North and East and Zeta for West and South. Today, it has more than 25 audio
products in the country and some more are expected to hit the market by
September 2004.

According to Anthony J Wilkinson, VP, Sales and Busi-ness Development-Asia
Paci-fic, Altec Lansing, "We have identified India as one of the major
market for audio players and with our rich heritage we would like to explore the
PC market and the upcoming DVD, CDs, MP3 and the home theatre segment in this
country." He also pointed out that the company has grown by 80 percent in
India on a year-to-year basis and this kind of growth is also expected this
fiscal. This growth Anthony feels will be possible because the Indian market
today is getting more and more digital and the next couple of years would see
immense pene-tration of entertainment in the IT industry.

Nitin Aggarwal, Director, Trifin Information Technology said, "Altec has
some of the finest audio products and this fiscal they will be introducing more
variety where the custo-mers will have varied choice to choose from. The beauty
of Altec is that they have products from the entry-level to the premium segment
and we have seen substantial growth in the last two quarters."

The company is planning to organize road shows in the country, which would
give more visibility to its brand. "We want to be the number one audio
player in the Indian market and I feel that by 2005, we would achieve that
feat," Anthony added. According to Altec, Creative today has the highest
market share in India and the company is hopeful of uprooting them from this
position this fiscal.

Aggarwal pointed out that Trifin has 150 dedicated partners in the North
selling Altec's products and this number is also expected to increase
substantially over the next six months. "We are also launching a
promotional campaign for the partners. This in turn would help Altec to reach
the Numero Uno position in the country," Aggarwal said.

CyberMedia News

New Delhi