Toshiba's RWC push

They may be late entrants to the New Zealand PC market, but kiwis should expect to see lots more from Toshiba in the next few months.

The company is an official sponsor of the Rugby World Cup (RWC), and while recent launches have been somewhat quiet – the Toshiba Tablet AT100 arrived last month with barely a peep – they’ll be making more noise as the hype builds.

In particular, Toshiba is focusing on hybrids of its PC and TV technology, according to Sanjay Bhartiya, AV product manager for Toshiba Australia.

Bhartiya says since Toshiba merged its IT and TV divisions together last year the technologies have become more and more linked.

"It used to be only a small segment of the market who wanted to know how they could connect their TV to their computer,” Bhartiya says.

"Now everyone has a notebook, everyone has a smartphone, everyone has a wireless network, and they all want to know how they can use them with their TV.”

In addition to the Tablet, Toshiba has just launched a range of notebooks and TVs. Additional, higher-spec TVs are to arrive around September, as the RWC begins – provided Toshiba can integrate them with our Freeview system.

Bhartiya says the consumer television has become a hub that is driven by other things via wireless networks in the home.

"For example, we have an iPhone app that lets you control your TV using your iPhone as a remote control. You may not have the remote on you, but you’ll usually have your phone.

"Plus you can control it from anywhere in your house, so if you get up to your bedroom and you’ve left the TV on, you don’t have to go into the living room to turn it off.”