St. John Technology to develop MP3 players with Bluetooth
June 15, 2004
St. John Technology Co. Ltd, established in 1992, manufactures computer peripherals such as CPU coolers and hard disk drives. Its three brand lines--Cyclone, Aviator and HDD Walker--carry products like removable 2.5-inch hard disk cases, PC cards, USB flash MP3 players, IEEE 1394 hubs and optical disc duplicators. Its newest applications include a range of USB and Bluetooth products.
Excerpts from the interview with Irene Shen, St. John's director, by Global Sources Computer Products:
What is the approximate monthly production of your main products?
We have two models of 2.5-inch external enclosures and for each model, we make around 2,000 units.
Which are the best-selling storage products?
The entry-level models. Right now, customers' priority remains to be price.
What are your most popular flash memory-based products and what is its approximate production?
The MP3 players. Right now we produce around 2,000 to 3,000 units per month.
Do you have plans of producing hard disk-based MP3 players in the near future?
Right now we already cooperating with another company for this type of project.
Are all your products made in Taiwan?
The MP3 players are made in Taiwan, but the chip production has already been moved to China.
Are any of your products subcontracted?
We subcontract the production of our MP3 players. The company doesn't manufacture. We just subcontract all the products for manufacturing. We buy the essential components and our partner companies assemble the end products for us.
So you focus mostly on design?
Yes, the design and the look.
Is the mix between your design and packaging part of your strategy to attract buyers?
In the past few years, we used the generic, no brand package because we sell mostly to trading companies. But some of our customers asked us to have our own brand, so towards the end of last year we started putting logos on some of our packages.
What quality control steps do you take to maintain quality in such a wide product range?
I can assure you that we have quality products because most of our OEM customers have been doing business with us for five years or more.
Can you give me an idea of your company's R&D for both hardware and software?
We don't handle software design, only hardware design. We have three engineers who are in charge of hardware design.
Can you give me an idea of the products you intend to introduce over the next year?
We will be introducing MP3 players with Bluetooth and cell phones with MP3 players.
Why should people buy from you?
I'm proud to say that most of our customers have been dealing with us for more than three years. As for support services, we normally share business experiences and marketing strategies with our customers. We introduce to them different kinds of products that might help them.
Since you're subcontracting a lot, how do you ensure the quality control for your subcontracted products?
The R&D gives the sample to the subcontractor, then our QC staff go to the plant of the manufacturer to check. Before we ship out, we conduct a second test of our products.
How many days would it take from time of order until delivery?
We finish a new product in about one month.
What are your major markets?
We market around 50 percent of our products to Europe, including Russia, Czechoslovakia and Greece. We also export to Indonesia and other Asian countries.
Are you currently offering wireless keyboard and mouse models?
No.
