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DISTREE APAC 2013 provides unique platform for vendors and distributors

Distree Asia Pacific 2013 was held for the first time in Singapore where a unique channel development platform united vendors with distributors and retailers from across the region.

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Prasanth
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Distree Asia Pacific 2013 was held for the first time in Singapore where a unique channel development platform united vendors with distributors and retailers from across the region. The conference program focused on major issues facing regional ICT & CE channel. Senior executives from APAC's leading ICT and consumer electronics (CE) retailers and distributors attended DISTREE APAC 2013, which took place at the Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa Resort in Singapore.

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Ashish Kapahi, DISTREE APAC event director, said: "Bringing together the most influential channel partners from across the region in one place at one time created a wealth of business opportunities for participating vendors." He further added, "Delegates took part in more than 1,500 pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings during this year's regional channel event. Hundred more meetings were set up on-site during the event by the Distree Matching Squad."

This week's event gathered 300-plus delegates representing APAC's most influential channel partners, plus vendors from across the globe. In total, more than 150 companies were represented at the event. The delegate list includes 90 retailer and e-tailer executives, 60 distributor executives, 100-plus technology vendor executives, as well as expert speakers, channel analysts and media partners.

DISTREE APAC 2013 included the popular ‘60 Seconds to Convince' awards programme, which gave vendors the opportunity to deliver a one minute elevator pitch for their latest product. Using a live electronic voting system, channel partners selected the top entrants in three categories: Best Product Innovation, Best Product Design and Best Presentation.

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Incipio secured the Best Product Innovation award after successfully showcasing its ATLAS Waterproof Ultra-Rugged Case for iPhone. Parrot claimed the Best Product Design award for its AR Drone product. Incipio also received the Best Presentation award after an entertaining pitch demonstrating just how rugged its smartphone cases really are.

A packed conference agenda included keynote speeches from HP and GfK, plus a regional channel update from Energy Sistem. Channel Academy workshop sessions hosted by CONTEXT, Forrester, GfK and VIA also allowed delegates to stay up to speed with the latest channel trends influencing market development in the APAC region.

On 13th November the ‘APAC Channel Academy: 2013 Awards', with hundreds of channel partners voting live to determine the outstanding regional vendor across 14 separate categories using a live electronic voting process.

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HP and Samsung were the standout vendors, picking up three awards apiece. HP emerged triumphant in the PC and Printing categories and was also recognised as Outstanding Vendor of the Year by retailers and distributors participating in the live voting.

Samsung picked up awards in three product categories: Tablets, Smartphones and TVs. Targus was named Phone & Tablet Accessories Vendor of the Year. Logitech collected the PC Accessories award and also won a tight live vote to secure the Audio Vendor of the Year title.

Canon dominated the Imaging Vendor of the Year live vote, winning the accolade with an impressive 56% share. Seagate was named Storage Vendor of the Year with 41% of the live vote, with WD coming a close second with 40% share.

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D-Link picked up the Home Networking Vendor of the Year award, while Microsoft was named APAC Software Vendor of the Year by channel partners with 56% of the vote. The Games Vendor of the Year award saw the only tie of the evening with Microsoft and Sony both picking up 39% and sharing this year's award.

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This year's event also included a Strategy Forum session, allowing senior executives from across the industry to hold open talks on major issues impacting the channel, and work together to develop possible solutions. Topics covered included multi-channel strategy, future growth opportunities,retail experiences and the evolution of traditional channels in APAC markets. Adding to this, L Subhas Chandra, managing director of Sangeetha Mobiles said, "This event provide us with a platform for information sharing and networking and the format is well spaced out." On similar lines, Ketan Patel of Creative Peripherals and Distribution said, "This event was engaging and provided us with opportunities to directly interact with vendors. We have come across good business avenues here but more than that the knowledge sharing that happened in last couple of days has been invaluable."

Farouk Hemraj, managing partner, DISTREE Events said, "We are organizing this event in APAC for the first time in 2013, joining existing events in Europe, Russia & CIS, the Middle East and Latin America. We want to thank all participants for making this week's event a success and planning is already underway for DISTREE APAC 2014 next year."

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