Akai relaunches in Australia

Akai will shortly return to Australian shores, with Audion Innovision Australia scoring an exclusive distribution deal for the well-known electronics brand.

Former Akai distributor, Akai Australia, was liquidated in early 2000 after the global Akai group of companies fell into financial difficulty. Audion Innovision managing director, Boyd Dainton, said it would re-launch a range of Akai LCD and plasma displays up to 60-inch in size alongside DVD products.

"There are some DVD players in the range with iPod and USB interfaces," he said. "It's all about convergence: some of them having SD card readers as well."

Dainton said the distributor had liaised with Akai's head office in Singapore and would begin promoting the brand to resellers from September, with a view to shipping product in October.

The Akai news comes hot on the heels of the distributor signing up US-based home audio vendor, Cyber Acoustics. The products are currently sold through major US retailers including Wal-Mart and Circuit City. Dainton said Australian retailers would be able to access the range from September.

"The range goes from $19.95 to $399, but the majority of the products are sub-$99," he said. "This is what the retailers want - competitively priced."