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Unwired shifts focus from Brightpoint to Ingram

Vendor says a lack of focus contributed to the decision

Mobile broadband provider, Unwired, has added Ingram Micro as a new distributor. It cited a lack of focus from existing partner, Brightpoint, as a factor in its decision.

Unwired will be looked after by Ingram’s Consumer Home and Office Solutions Division (CHOS), which also announced a partnership with Adelaide-based Dr PC this week..

Unwired general manager of sales, Richard Singh, said Ingram Micro was not the first local distributor of the product range. Unwired’s first foray into Australia’s channel was through now-defunct NSW distributor, Tecksel. The company also appointed mobility distributor, Brightpoint, in 2006.

“We’ve had a couple of distributors along the way, the results were not fantastic so we appointed Ingram Micro,” he said. “Ingram has the geographical coverage and depth of relationships with other vendors and resellers we want to leverage.

“We haven't terminated our partnership with Brightpoint, but it's been very stop-start and a lot of focus has been lost on both sides.”

Singh said there were no plans to appoint another distributor at this time. “We prefer to have few, but deep relationships,” he said.

In a release, Ingram Micro CHOS business unit manager, Jacqueline Bergin said the ADSL mobile broadband offering tied in well with CHOS’s strategy for networking the home and office and added value to its products and peripherals range.

Singh said the immediate plans for Unwired, which was purchased by Seven Networks late last year, were to focus on marketing and pre-paid subscriptions, which he said are gaining good traction in the market, and testing WiMAX technology.

“Trials we’ve run in Melbourne have shown good results with vendors. We see WiMAX as a complementary technology to existing technologies in place, so there is plenty of scope for it in the ecosystem,” he said.

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Tags: Unwired, Ingram Micro, distributor, Brightpoint, Dr PC, Richard Singh, Jacqueline Bergin, ADSL, broadband
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