For the past three quarter, the CE rate of decline was -28 per cent in Q3, 2013, -19 per cent in Q4, 2013 and -12 per cent in Q1, 2013.

“With interest rates and unemployment figures remaining low and stable, consumer confidence was relatively strong in the first quarter,” said GfK Retail and Technology commercial director Gwenno Hopkin.

“This quarter was also notable for its weather, with ‘Australia’s hottest summer on record’ driving growth in all cooling-related categories.”

This significant slowdown in the rate of the decline has had a positive impact on the overall Australian Technical Consumer Goods (TCG) market, taking the value for Q1, 2013 just down to 1.6 per cent on Q1, 2012. This the lowest rate of decline in five quarters.

The main contributor to the CE sector slowdown was the small domestic appliances category, which enjoyed an 8 per cent year-on-year growth. Specifically vacuum cleaners enjoyed double-digit growth in Q1.

Meanwhile, the major domestic appliances (MDA) was impacted by the weather. The high temperatures drove demand for refrigeration and freezers, with high capacity French door models being the favourite increasing the average price for refrigerators. Unsurprisingly, tumble dryers experienced double-digit declines.

Also, despite an ongoing decline in total TV units sold, it is the high-end of the TV segment that is to thank for the sector’s slowdown in value decline. The TV segment has experienced an overall average price increase of 17 per cent due to a rapid increase in sales of 55-inch-plus models. Consumers continue to receive increased value for money, however, with the average price of a 55-inch LED Full HD 3D Smart TV down 16 per cent on quarter 1, 2012.

Double-digit value declines were also experienced by all the traditional major IT segments in the first quarter. Mobile and desktop computing also experienced significant unit declines. The continuing growth of media tablets, however, stabilised the value of the sector.

“Almost all other segments continued to experience dramatic declines, with the continued exception of headphones. Headphones remains the only growth segment within the CE sector, and in quarter 1, was almost equal in value to the audio home systems segment,” Hopkin said.

Hopkin concluded that retail conditions will remain challenging particularly with the election year looming and continued pressure on local business created by the strong dollar.

“In the meantime, while the CE sector shows signs of stabilising, the IT and Telecom sectors now face the challenge of operating in a mature market environment. Hopefully, a continued focus on the often smaller, but higher-priced and more profitable sub-segments of the technology market will keep revenues stable for the remainder of the year,” she said.

Dell SecureWorks is expanding  its information security services in Australia and New Zealand.

This is the second phase of the company’s expansion into the Asia-Pacific region, having launched in Japan in February and builds on Dell’s end-to-end security offerings for customers.

As part of the rollout, Dell SecureWorks is establishing a team in Australia. The new setup will provide a local point of contact for customers.

“As cyber threats continue to make the headlines weekly, demand for our information security services throughout Australia and New Zealand is increasing,” said Drew Harris, Dell SecureWorks global business executive director.

“This, combined with Dell’s strong presence in the region, makes Dell SecureWorks’ expansion in-country a natural fit.”

Dell SecureWorks offers security solutions included managed security services, threat intelligence and security and risk consulting.

“Dell SecureWorks is solely focused on information security; that is all we do,” said Harris. “As a result, we intimately understand today’s global threat landscape. It is this knowledge, combined with our proven expertise, which enables us to successfully defend our customers’ IT assets, while they concentrate on their core business.”

The  National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme where Australians are able to recycle their unwanted e-waste for free is now available nationally.

Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water, the Hon Amanda Rishworth and Federal Member for Bass, Geoff Lyons, launched the national availability of scheme services in Tasmania. The launch also coincided with the one year anniversary of the first services under the scheme.

Rishworth said the television and computer recycling scheme services are now available across the country for householders and small businesses to drop off their unwanted TVs and computer products to be recycled, free of charge.

“With services now operating in Launceston, Devonport and Hobart, and the recent rollout of scheme services in the Northern Territory, there are now free recycling drop-off points in every state and territory, and in every capital city,” she said.

Rishworth said a key feature of the scheme is that it provides a long-term solution to the disposal of e-waste, and it showcases the successful collaboration of the Australian Government with industry to deliver for the community.

Australia’s first recycling sites in Canberra began collecting waste in May last year. Since then the ACT has collected and recycled over 3,000 tonnes of waste televisions and computers.

The National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme is industry funded and run, but regulated by the Australian Government under the landmark Product Stewardship Act 2011.

Further information regarding e-waste recycling drop-off points can be found at: http://recyclingnearyou.com.au/

Magellan is supporting the sales of its eXplorist hand-held GPS range during the cooler months by offering free map upgrades and reducing prices on selected devices.

Consumers who pick up either an eXplorist 310 or eXplorist 510 models from May 28 to September 15 will receive free topographic map upgrades. The Summit Series Topographic maps will show details information about contour lines for accurate elevation, fire-trails, waterways, and details for assessing terrain difficulty, as well as points of interests including campsites. This will complement the preloaded Worldwide Basemap from Navteq that shows major road networks, water features, parks and city centres of more than 200 countries.

Magellan is also giving customers more reasons to buy its eXplorist 310, announcing there will be a permanent $50 reduction on the recommended retail price to $199.  eXplorist 310 has the ability to store 1,000 waypoints, 50 routes and 50 tracks, while the 510 can store up to 2,000 waypoints, 200 routes and 200 tracks.

The eXplorist 510 will continue to be sold at an RRP of $349 and features a 3-inch touch screen, an integrated 3.2 mega-pixel camera, microphone and speaker.

Vivien Lee joins the Canon Australia team after being appointed general manager of consumer marketing for the Canon consumer imaging business.

Lee will report directly to Canon’s director of consumer imaging Jason McLean and will focus on building the brand.

Lee joins Canon Australia from MLC Limited, where she was head of brand, digital and customer intelligence for the wealth division of NAB, and has held previous roles as head of marketing communications at NRMA Motoring and Services and regional marketing manager for American Express International, Inc.

“Vivien’s broad and diverse experience is just what we need at a time of continual and significant shifts in consumer behaviour and the rapid growth of global online commerce,” said Jason McLean, director – Canon consumer imaging. “We were greatly impressed by Vivien’s passion and drive and look forward to her steering the brand as a leader in marketing innovation and consumer engagement.”

Microsoft has announced its next generation game console, the Xbox One, labelling it as the “all-in-one gaming and entertainment system” and boasting it as the go-to hub for games, TV, movies, music, sports and Skype.

Don Mattrick, president, Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft said the aim of the Xbox One is to bring simplicity to the living room and make the TV more intelligent so “entertainment comes alive in one place”.

With its completely redesigned 1080p Kinect, the Xbox One enable users to use voice and gesture control to accurately control game characters, navigate to other entertainment options more intuitively and even switch on the console itself.

According to Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, Yusuf Mehdi, the more users interact with the Xbox One the more personalised the experience becomes.

But the biggest focus point for Microsoft at the launch is a feature called ‘TV on Xbox One’. It was demonstrated that users could navigate and watch live TV through the Xbox One and have access to a live TV guide via ‘OneGuide’.

On the gaming side of things, EA Sports was the first to announce new titles for the machine, which included Fifa 14, Madden NFL 25, NBA Live 14 and UFC. Other gaming titles that will also be made available at launch of the console are Call of Duty: Ghosts and Forza Motorsports 5. Microsoft Studio plans to release15 games within the console’s first year of release, eight of which will be new franchises.

The Xbox One follows Microsoft’s success with the Xbox 360, which was initially launched almost eight years ago and will receive an update of its own with details to be announced at E3 2013 in mid-June.

Xbox One will launch in markets around the world later this year with specific details on local availability and pricing remaining unconfirmed.

While it has been all doom and gloom, retail made it to fifth position as one of the most wealthiest industries in Australia.

According to the 30th anniversary BRW Rich 200 list, 27 of Australia’s most wealthiest people are in retail. This is an increase on last year when there were only 20 from the retail sector.

Making it to this is list is none other than Gerry Harvey who has long been criticised for his perceived failure to adapt to the emergence of the online retail sector. His wealth is up 30 per cent this year to $1.44 billion, lifted by the improvement in Harvey Norman shares.

Yenda Lee, from the Bing Lee retail empire also joins the list. She is just one of 13 other women on the BRW Rich 200 list, after previously appearing on BRW’s Rich 50 Families list.

Although the biggest (and probably not the most surprising) is retail property tycoon Frank Lowy, a former number one. He moves from third last year to second on the 2013 BRW Rich 200 after gaining about $400 million. His $6.87 billion valuation is underpinned by some modest growth at his shopping centre business Westfield Group.

Although, according to BRW, the average wealth per person on the Rich 200 has fallen to $884 million, down from $906 million last year. This year’s cut-off criteria rose from $25 million to $235 million.

Winplus Australasia’s Cocoon Baby Monitor power adaptors that were sold through Aldi are being recalled.

The Borasen 240V AC Power Adaptors (2 units per pack) provided with the Cocoon Baby Monitors have been found that they may pull apart when the customer removes it from a socket outlet, exposing consumers to live wires. If these wires are touched while the unit is plugged in to an outlet there is a risk of electric shock.

The products were sold in Aldi stores between November 7, 2012 to March 27, 2013 in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria.
The NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Rod Stowe has advised consumers to stop using the power adaptors and contact Winplus Australasia for replacement power adaptors. Customers can still use the baby monitors using non-rechargeable batteries.

“Consumers need to be safety conscious in the modern market and I recommend they make a habit of checking the recalls site to make sure products they have purchased are safe for use,” he said.

Winplus Australasia’s contact details can be found on their website, click here.

Instead they were only able to show off the DualShock4 wireless controller, which looked like this:

Now, the company is expect to unveil the new look PS4 at E3 2013. The company has left us with this teaser video:

But sign up HERE to watch PlayStation E3 2013 Conference live on June 11, starting 11am AEST.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has accepted a court enforceable undertaking from Foxtel, following allegations the paid TV company had breached the Australian Consumer Law with a free television offer.

Foxtel had offered customers who subscribed to a 12 months plans between February 12 and April 5, 2012 would receive a 22-inch neoniQ television within ten days of installation of their Foxtel service. The offer was advertised in a nationwide campaign, which included television advertisements and direct marketing.

However, a significant number of customers who signed up to the offer did not receive the televisions within ten days of installation and the ACCC believes that Foxtel did not take sufficient steps to ensure that it could deliver on this promise. Foxtel also advertised that the offer was limited to 1,500 free televisions but signed up nearly 8,400 subscribers to the promotion.

“It is important for businesses to have a reasonable basis for any promises made to consumers otherwise they risk breaching the Australian Consumer Law,” ACCC chairman Rod Sims said.

“Businesses must review claims made in advertisements to ensure they remain accurate at all times.”

As a result, Foxtel is now giving a subscription credit to current Foxtel Customers who subscribed to the free television offer and were not sent a free television within 10 business days after installation, and still had a Foxtel subscription as at May 1, 2013

Foxtel had told the ACCC it will ensure that by July 15, those customers will receive one month’s subscription credit, based on their subscription fee on May 15 2013.

Foxtel has also undertaken to refrain from engaging in similar conduct in the future and to appoint a qualified compliance professional to conduct a review of any areas of its business where there is a risk of breaching competition and consumer laws.