e.Digital Corporation (fka EDIG)

[Tenderloin]

OT: Move over, iPod, here comes Huaqi's Aigo

It's a range of new, sleek, inexpensive MP3 players that the Beijing-based company claims is currently the top-selling brand in China
Published December 22, 2003

By AMIT ROY CHOUDHURY
http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/story/0,4567,103249,00.html


HERE comes a series of sophisticated and stylish MP3 players which could give other MP3 players - including those from Creative Technology and Apple Computer - a run for their money.

Made in China: Some Aigo models offer the ability to record directly from a phone

The new gizmos sell under the brand name 'Aigo' and come from Beijing-based Huaqi Information Digital Technology. Huaqi has more than 20 MP3 models and will initially introduce five of them here for between $170 and $300 each. Some of the models offer the ability to record directly from a phone and come with a removable SD card storage; the top-line MP3 player offers 256 MB of storage.

In the past three years, Huaqi's MP3 players have overtaken international brands in China and is now the top-selling brand there, says Tony Wu, managing director of the Singapore subsidiary, Huaqi IT (Singapore). 'We control 40 per cent of the MP3 player market in China and sell around 80,000 devices every month,' he told BizIT.

Initially, the company will just market its MP3 players here. But in six months it wants to launch its full range of portable storage devices and other peripherals in Singapore. 'We do not want to come in with all our products at one go as this may create confusion in the minds of the customers,' Mr Wu said.


By March next year, the company will introduce its MPEG-4 players in Singapore. 'We have two or three models that we are testing in China,' Mr Wu said. 'If the tests go well we will introduce them in Singapore by March. This is our first foray out of China. In future we will be using Singapore as a training base before sending executives to the US and Europe. Singapore is a springboard for us to move into the US and European markets.'

Mr Wu said Huaqi will invest around $5 million over the next three years in Singapore and plans to eventually employ about 100 people. 'Of these, about 20 to 30 would be engaged in R&D for new products.'

Huaqi created the Aigo brand this year for the international market. The name Aigo is the romanised version of 'Patriot', which is the brand's name in China's domestic market.

Mr Wu said Huaqi hopes to break the perception that China-made products are cheap and of low quality. Huaqi has more than 1,000 staff, of which 200 are involved in R&D. 'What differentiates Aigo from the competition is its high quality and its attention to design and aesthetics,' he said. 'It is also priced about 10 to 20 per cent below similar Japanese and Korean products.'

Huaqi set up a subsidiary in Singapore in October and has appointed Ban Leong Technologies, one of this year's Enterprise 50 winners, as its distributor here.

Huaqi was founded in 1993 and is a computer peripherals company which has been growing at 60 per cent every year, Mr Wu said. Last year the company grossed one billion yuan (S$205 million) in revenue and expects to hit 1.6 billion yuan this year.