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Friday,
April 18, 2003
August debut for Malaysia’s first smart TV MENARA Axis Sdn Bhd is confident that its intelligent TV, the nation's first, will take the market by storm when it debuts in August. Its chairman Tengku Ngah Putra Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin told StarBiz the demand for the smart TV among local distributors and wholesalers had to date exceeded 60,000 units and “we believe the demand would increase once the product is commercially available”. “The wholesalers know the product will hit the market. It's a revolution. The TV has been transformed from an idiot box to a smart box, from a box that cannot communicate to one that can,” Putra said of the smart TV that has yet to be named. “We've not decided on the brandname yet but it would be a name that reflects the Malaysian identity and spirit, and one that would help sell the product!”
“It's wired without the wires, and transforms what would otherwise be an ordinary TV set into a multimedia hub integrating home entertainment with smart home communication system, security surveillance and automation,” Putra said. He said the smart TV could currently be used to control any electrical devices, and “very soon”, it could also be used to make telephone calls, connect to the Internet and conduct video conferencing, among other features. “It's all in the pipeline. With a telephone line plugged into the intelligent TV set, the virtual reach is almost limitless,” he said. Citing for example, he said that one could call back the TV to enquire and view the status of the home (security-wise) and control electrical devices remotely. “I am proud to say that this product was wholly conceptualised, designed, developed and manufactured in Malaysia,” Putra said, adding that the concept was originally conceived by Anggun Permai Industries Sdn Bhd in collaboration with PC Sentry Sdn Bhd. Anggun Permai, founded and managed by Putra, has 13 years' experience in manufacture and assembly of TV for the local and export markets, mainly Russia and the Middle East, under the brandnames of ECE, Akira and Nikom. “There's high competition with China coming into the marketplace. We knew we had to do something to make our products different, that's why five years ago, we decided to move into intelligent TV,” Putra said. PC Sentry, which has been involved in technological research and development since 1995 and has its own fairly successful high-tech home security and automation system Secure Smith, was engaged as Anggun Permai's R&D arm for the development of a smart TV in February. Anggun Permai met PC Sentry via Mavcap. The venture won the approval of Malaysian Venture Capital Management Bhd (Mavcap, wholly-owned by the Finance Ministry), which went on to take up 40% equity in Menara Axis, formed last year to take over the development of the smart TV from Anggun Permai and to market it. Putra said though a breakthrough in smart home multimedia apparatus, the smart TV would be priced competitively against the conventional TV in the marketplace. It would retail from RM900, for a 21” TV. The smart TV, which has a built-in transmitter, would be packaged with some automation devices that could be used right from the box to automate any electrical devices, with the TV as the controller. Consumers could add in more automation devices, to be sold separately, to add more automation to their homes. Putra said once the smart TV had a foothold in Malaysia, Menara Axis would start exporting it. “We've already received inquiries from Middle East distributors,” he said, adding that the company would first target third-world countries in the Middle East and Russia. Anggun Permai has the experience marketing in those countries. “We did not just come out of the blue, we have the marketing network ready,” he added.
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