Samsung unveils new reseller scheme

Free product evaluation programme for GT9000 series

Samsung Electronics UK has introduced a free product evaluation programme to resellers of its new laptops in a bid to become one of the top five notebook manufacturers in the UK by 2003.

The company's latest GT9000 series, which is targeted at both the small to medium sized enterprise and enterprise markets, is being offered to resellers on a free one-week trial.

SCC Direct, ICL, Digi UK and Answer SGI are participating in the first phase of the programme, which the firm plans to roll out to smaller resellers if successful.

IDC figures show Dell, Toshiba, Acer, Sony and IBM as the current UK top five notebook makers. Andy Brown, an analyst at IDC, said: "Samsung is not in our top 10. We categorise it as a white box manufacturer. But with the right channels in place it has a very good chance."

Peter Lunn, product marketing manager for notebooks at Samsung, said: "We are working with these large resellers initially to grow our customer base and build recognition of Samsung as a notebook manufacturer."

However, Brown said that market share may be hard to achieve because IT projects are on hold and notebooks would be the first products to be affected.