| Panasonic
will spend $2 million for the marketing of
the products during this festive season alone,
and plans to take the war to the market forerunner
Korean companies by opening 100 brand outlets
as against just three that it has now, said
Panasonic India chairman H Asou.
Korean
company Sony in the same space has 200 brand
outlets, Asou said, admitting that the Koreans
have been far ahead, but added that in the
camera range, Panasonic is targeting 25
to 30 per cent annual growth across all
products.
In
the audio-visual space alone, Panasonic
plans to double its investment from $50
mn to $100 million in the coming year, Asou
stated, adding that the investment would
be entirely in developing marketing and
sales.
Asou
said that starting this April, Panasonic
has woken up to the Indian growth reality
and the market potential it offers and for
that reason alone, Panasonic has started
a single division to tackle just one market:
India.
"This
is the first time in the history of our
company that a single division has been
set up to handle just one market,"
Asou said.
Aosu
said that it had taken a full year to identify
the right partnership for its new camera
ranges in still and video media, and zeroed
in on MCC, which has a very long history
of being in the Indian camera market.
Asou
said that so far as a regional approach
to growth, Panasonic would concentrate in
the south first, where it has found a huge
market, then tackle west, mainly Mumbai,
and subsequently move up to capture the
Delhi market.
MCC
MD Ajay Mehta spoke on the unique qualities
of the cameras, which use Leica lenses the
costliest in the world, and yet produce
cameras that are affordable.
Among
the unique features are:
- The
16 : 9 aspect ratio that gives much higher
quality
- Intelligent
ISO Control, which changes the speed of
the film according to the situation of
the object being photographed, so that
light quality is perfect, a technology
that allows the camera to do this
- Image
Stabiliser Technology, which cuts out
the hand-shake that is normal among photographers,
and gives a blur free image at all times
under any condition
- The
228 mm lens that capture a bigger picture
than the prevalent 35 mm lens
- Video
cameras with no need for tapes, and also
some having 30 GB hard disk and others
having DVD compatibility, in which the
images can be shot directly on a DVD inserted
in the camera.
How
is it that despite using Leica lenses Panasonic
can still give cameras that come in the
range of 9,000+ to just 29,000+ (stills)
and video cameras that come with price tags
from 15,000 to 70,000 only?
MCC
chairman Pran Mehta, who had once tried
selling Leica cameras but which bombed because
of the scorching prices, said: "They
have not compromised on the quality of Lecia
lenses, for they have bought over Leica,
but the latest technology which uses high
quality material that replaces steel makes
this affordable."
Mehta
said that in his experience, the Indian
market always settles for the lesser quality
material, which is why Leica never sold.
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