News
Brightstar Europe appointed master distributor for OtterBox protective solutions
2011-09-21
Telephony specialist Brightstar Europe, a joint venture between Brightstar and Tech Data, has signed a pan-European limited master distribution agreement with OtterBox, a provider of protective cases for smartphone handsets and tablet devices. Limited because Ingram Micro keeps its direct contract with Otterbox and will not buy its products through Brightstar. The agreement will cover the full range of OtterBox products and extend to all European countries that Brightstar Europe and Tech Data have a presence, that is Austria, Belgium/Luxembourg, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (Denmark, Portugal and Switzerland being the latest to be - quietly - opened). It provides distributors, operators, retailers and resellers with access to the extensive logistics capabilities of Brightstar Europe and Tech Data, enabling them to extend availability, meet customer needs and maximize opportunities with OtterBox protective solutions.
Distributors lose industry share in 2011
2011-08-31
According to the last Canalys report, the growth of the distributors does not match those of the rest of the industry. The Canalys IT Industry major vendor (Apple, Cisco, Dell, EMC, Google, HP, IBM, Intel, Lexmark, Oracle, Microsoft and SAP) grew revenue 18% worldwide on average in the first quarter of 2011. In comparison, the big four distributors (Arrow ECS, Avnet TS, Ingram Micro and Tech Data) managed 11%, with many smaller distributors faring worse than this. Distributors have blamed recent disappointing results on excess inventory, poor retail demand, sluggish sell-out and weakening economies. They have comforted themselves by making peer group comparisons where sales-out data shows "we are performing as well as the others, so please blame the market for our results, not us!" And while these reasons are valid justifications, Canalys argues that distributors need to see the bigger picture and realize that for the first time in a decade industry trends are conspiring against them.
According to the report, distribution thrived for the last 10 years thanks to rapid notebook and netbook adoption and the virtualization of the server room, with two-tier distribution at the heart of the routes-to-market for both B2B and B2C vendors. But the growth drivers of the industry have now changed. Mobility is still booming, but now on the back of smaller devices, notably smart phones and pads, which are more and more sold either directly or through service providers. The server and storage markets are healthy, driven by data center activity and cloud applications. On top of these industry changes, the world economic growth is mainly coming from economies beyond Western Europe and the US, where the top 4 distributors are at best weak, at worse absent (MEA, Russia, Japan, etc.) : in these countries, local distributors will outgrow them, with already some local giants like Merlion in Russia for example. All of these factors combined are set to cause headaches for distributor executives for at least the next two years. The report concludes with a list of recommandations for the distributors to follow, if they wish their growth to match the industry, one of which is to go East as soon as possible…
Brightstar top team revamped
2010-10-29
Telephony specialist Brightstar has restructured its senior management team in a move that will see UK MD Tanny Price promoted to a European marketing role. Former Brightstar European sales director Richard Turner will take on Price's UK position with immediate effect. The distributor has also appointed Ulrich Bach-Anderson from arch rival Brightpoint as European new business development director, with a focus on smartphones. Meanwhile, Valerie Prince, who was previously at Alcatel for 22 years, will take on Turner's previous role of European sales director. All four will report to Brightstar Europe president Rod Millar. Brightstar entered the UK three years ago and since then has gone into Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands (source : Mobile Today United Kingdom).
Pierre-Yvon Mechali back at Ingram
2010-04-13
Pierre-Yvon Mechali, who was managing director of mobile phone specialist 20:20 Mobile since last year, is gone to his former employer, Ingram Micro. He is replaced as 20:20 MD by William Quillet. Before joining 20:20, Pierre-Yvon was deputy managing director of Ingram Micro France, in charge of sales, marketing and purchasing. He is back working for the broadliner, but for an unveiled job at its European headquarter, in Belgium. It may be interesting to see if this return may be related to Ingram being interested in mobile telephony : its main competitor, Tech Data, has indeed started a few years ago a mobile phone business in EMEA region in partnership with Americain specialist Brightstar. Beginnings were arduous, but the business is now gaining momentum in the countries where it is operational (Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom since some time, Belgium, France and the Netherlands since a few weeks). Ingram cannot thus leave Tech Data "alone" on this business, all the more as mobile phone accessories were among the few successfull business in the past year !
Brightstar Europe invests in business operations in France and the Benelux
2010-02-18
After UK, Spain and Germany, Brightstar Europe, a joint venture between Tech Data and Brightstar, is further investing in its business operations by expanding into France and the Benelux, in line with its pan-European growth strategy. The organisation relies on a centralized back-office IT infrastructure as well as logistics resources and capital structure of both companies. By offering mobile phones and mobility solutions and services, Brightstar Europe intends to target mobile operators, retailers and ICT resellers in France and the Benelux.
In parallel, the company's product and service portfolio will continue to expand over the next few months. Both operations in France and the Benelux have built teams with strong telco industry experience and are located within Tech Data's existing facilities in Bussy Saint Georges near Paris, Utrecht and Brussels. Initially, France will be focusing on RIM, HTC and Samsung while the Benelux will continue with their activation program for leading mobile operators and focus on growing their RIM and HTC relationships.
