BCS showcase goes beyond capital

Children engrossed in a Paint Competition at BCS Fair-2005 in Chittagong

State minister for civil aviation and tourism, Mir Mohammad Nasir Uddin inaugurated the fair. "The government is interested to build a computer city in Chittagong like the one in Dhaka", the minister informed while speaking at the event.

Chittagong's VIP tower was the venue for the fair and it included 26 pavilions and 13 stalls. Some of the major participants at the fair were Techno Village Pvt. Ltd. Akij Online Ltd. Khan Jahan Ali Computers Ltd., PC Park, Smart Technologies and Flora.

Chittagong ICT Forum informed StarTech that initiatives for the fair had to be taken by them, whereas most renowned companies favour the capital for their product launch and promotions. They invited the companies to come forward and serve the customers at this part of the country. Consumers should be provided with proper demonstrations and purposes of these companies' products along with reliability.

They also mentioned that consumers have become so dependable on Dhaka that sometimes they make their payment in the capital and receive the computers and accessories from Chittagong. The companies distributing the products should eliminate this sort of obstacle.

'Due to the clash between three fairs, which are being held at the same time, our customer response was just at a satisfactory level', said Mohammad Nizam Uddin, president, Chittgong ICT Forum.

Free online browsing, game competition, children's painting project competition, everyday raffle draw were part of the activities at the fair.

Samsung introduced two latest notebooks weighting just about 3kg at the fair. Making its size slimmest in the world for notebooks, it has been highlighted with its body made of magnesium alloy that prevents the notebook PC from scratches and carry on its silver glaze.

'You'd be happy to know that Samsung plans to set up its service center at Dhaka. We can ensure you to replace your product with a new one in case of any problems except physical damages till two years and 11 months from the date of the purchase,' said Sharfuddin Anik, business manager, Smart Technologies (BD) Ltd. while speaking at a product brief to journalists. 'We have already started a service called 'onestop' for hard drives with problems including bad sectors except external abuse where the customer would be able to take a new product in replacement for the existing at one sitting.'

When representatives of different brands were asked about their experience and marketing plans in Chittagong, they all made a positive response and spoke about future marketing plan.

'Twinmos has set up its own office at Dhaka recently, and we have already marketed our product in Chittagong. The response from the customers here is very impressive as we found out from our dealers at here and we would set our office here as soon as we find a green signal from our Dubai office', said Abdullah Al Mamun, marketing representative, TwinMOS Technologies Middle East.