Philips enters PC market via Synnex

Consumer electronics giant Philips Electronics has entered the Australian PC market with a range of desktops which are being assembled by national distributor Synnex and sold through the Harvey Norman retail chain.

The vendor has introduced three models, the PV01, PV02 and PV03 “Omniline” range of desktop PCs starting at $1099 (retail) for the PV01 with an Intel Pentium 524 chip at 3.0Mhz 512MB of RAM, 125MB graphics, wireless PCI LAN card and Windows XP home edition.

The top end $2099 PV03 model includes a Pentium D 3.0Ghz chip, 2048MB of DDR memory, 256MB of dedicated PCIe graphics, integrated PCI LAN card, and Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre edition.

Synnex’s Melbourne-based assembly facility also builds the company’s Mitac brand of notebook and desktop products – also sold at Harvey Norman – as well as unbranded “white-box” systems for the reseller channel.

Kee Ong (pictured), managing director at Synnex Australia, said the assembly contract with Philips had been in the works for six months and the distributor was the only company in Australia building for the vendor.

Matt Moran, GM of consumer electronics at Philips, said the PC launch was part of the vendor's "Connected Planet" initiative, a marketing plan that brings together components of the vendor's IT and electronics businesses.

The company is also selling video and audio streaming devices that are used to stream content around the home, he said.