[Update] Creative Store MS to re-open in April

This is due to some renovation work which the contractor were not able to complete on time for the March 13 date. The Creative Store Marina Square will re-open on 1st April (no, it's not a joke) with new promotions. Look out for it!

Creative cuts 300 jobs

Creative has announced on Friday night that it will be laying off 300 more workers mostly from its US and Europe subsidiaries. In the course, the company will incur restructuring charges of about US$10million for its fiscal 3rd quarter, the three months ending 31 March 2009. The $10million will include severance payments to the workers and facilities costs from consolidation of certain international offices. This would most likely means that jobs or services which have been used to be provided by the US and Europe arm will now be transferred to Singapore. Despite this new round of job cuts, Creative says that its Singapore workforce will not see a significant change and that the company is still hiring R&D engineers.

It seems that Creative is drastically cutting its head count and that can be seen as a good thing as it gives the company more freedom financially for this difficult period of time. This is not to say that the Creative Labs in the US and UK has been doing a bad job. Instead I feel that in terms of embracing the social media and reaching out to the customers, they are way better than their Singapore counterparts. However, the fact remains that they are more expensive to employ and being far away from the HQ doesn't help. So regretfully, its yet another tough business decision to make. I do feel that 2009 would be a good year for Creative to turn around as all the cost cutting measures that it have implemented should show significant results. What it needs now is to lower the price of its older products and release its new range of products soon. Honestly, it has been a long time since the ZEN X-Fi and I can really do with some new product excitement. But no, I do not want a VoiceOver ZEN Stone thank you very much.

Creative pulled out of IT Show 2009 [SG]

As I navigate my way through the crowd the moment the doors of IT Show 2009 open (trust me, early afternoon is the best time for this), I faithfully went in search of the Creative booth. But after almost an hour of futile searching and the lack of any indications of its presence on the floor plan, it suddenly dawn upon me that Creative is not at the show. This has to be the first time Creative has missed a computer exhibition in Singapore (there are 4 in a year) and considering that I have been to every one of them since the ZEN Micro days, that says alot. If you remember my previous post on Creative's booth at COMEX 2008, we knew for a fact that Creative has been cutting its budget for such shows drastically. I hope that they are simply gearing for something big in the coming months and would rather save all the money they can to launch the new product with a bang than to spend it on the computer show which might or might not generate alot of sales. Anyways, if you happen to go to the show tomorrow (it's at suntec city btw), do drop by the Creative Store at Marina Square which is due to re-open tomorrow.

Creative Store to re-open in March

News of the closure of Creative's first lifestyle store in the heart of Singapore's shopping district broke out last week, leading to speculations that Creative might be facing a financial crisis too big for it to handle. When we visited the store two weeks ago, the place was already vacant and Creative confirmed that it has closed down the Marina Square branch. Although Creative did not give an official reason for its closure, people familiar with the case cited rising rent prices as one of the main reason for the closure. "It's simply a business decision. Nobody pays this sort of rent anymore, especially in this kind of climate." Creative's decision to re-open the branch lies mainly with the mall's decision to give in and reduce the rent substantially. The store is expected to re-open in "one or two weeks" time, so in the meantime, you can also give in to temptation and shop at the Creative online store. Promotions going on now include really great refurbish deals (ZEN V Plus 2GB - $39 or ZEN Vision: M 30GB - $169) and new combo deals, check it out here.

Update: Creative store Marina Square will officially re-open on the 13th of March.

Creative CNY Promo [SG]

MP3 Players: Get a free power adapter with every ZEN X-Fi or ZEN Mozaic purchased. You can also get the respective TravelSound for only $49.

Speakers: Get a free HQ-1500 with every GigaWorks or N400 Notebook speakers. Or an EP-210 with any Inspire Speakers purchased.

Sound Blaster: Free EP-210 with every Sound Blaster X-Fi Go! or Surround 5.1.

Cameras: Free audio/video cable with each Vado. Save $50 with the Live! Cam Optia Pro or AF.

Headphones: Save up to $100 on the Aurvana Headphones series.

[LINK]

Exclusive: Creative @ CES 2009

Creative Cuts 2,700 jobs

CREATIVE Technology, the home-grown tech firm, has slashed 2,700 jobs, or almost half its total workforce, in the last fiscal year as falling demand for its products continue to hit its bottom line.

Jobs cuts were made across the board, but the bulk was in manufacturing, due to the sale of its Malaysian plant in July 2007.

The Straits Times estimates that up to 2200 jobs have been eliminated as a result of that closure.

This came to light in the company's annual report filed with the Singapore's Exchange on Wednesday.

In the report, Creative said that it had about 3,100 full-time workers as at June 30 last year, or 47 per cent fewer than the 5,800 employed a year earlier.

In the previous year, Creative had cut headcount by about 800 from 6,600.

A Creative spokesman said: "The bulk of the reduction in the worldwide workforce was due to the sale of Cubic Electronics, the manufacturing subsidiary of Creative in Malaysia, in July 2007."

Creative sold an 80.1 per cent stake in the Malaysian facility for US$6.9 million (S$10.1 million) to a group of third-party investors as part of a move to streamline and improve its operational efficiency.

Other staff cuts were made, with about 250 coming from sales, marketing and customer support, about 180 from administrative and other areas and fewer than 50 from research and development (R&D).

Besides Asia, headcount was also significantly reduced in the Americas region, from about 640 to 280.

The spokesman said there had been no "significant change" in headcount in Singapore, where Creative has its corporate headquarters and a large part of its R&D operations.

"We are still looking to hire more R&D engineers," the spokesman said.

The company employs about 1,100 staff in R&D across the US, Britain and China, in addition to Singapore.

Creative had net losses of US$19.7 million for the year ended June 30, 2008.

The company, which makes MP3 players and speakers, has been hit by slowing sales of its products due to the worsening economic situation and tough competition.

Sales for the three months ended Sept 90 were US$141.2 million, down from US$184.6 million for the same period a year before. Half of Creative's sales came from Europe, while the Americas and Asia made up the rest almost evenly.

In the report, Creative said it faces "intense competition from a large number of established companies and emerging companies".

Sales of electronic products have slumped as the economic slowdown forces consumers to cut back on spending, leading companies like Chartered Semiconductor and Philips Electronics to announce job cuts in the recent months.

Creative suffered a net loss of US$32.2 million in the first quarter ended Sept 30 to follow a net loss of US$31.7 million in the three months before that.

"We will continue to reduce operating expenses as we target to reduce our losses in the uncertain market environment ahead," president and chief operating officer of Creative Labs Craig McHugh said in October.

Thanks to Musik (of epizenter) for the article. Article courtesy of The Straits Times, Singapore and is written by Robin Chan.

Creative to pull out of Macworld 2009

It is about a month shy away from the Macworld 2009 (& CES) and this time round, the rumor mill seems to be unusually quiet. Except for an unconfirmed rumor of an iPhone Nano, there isn't much going on at the Apple camp. And according to a report by Yahoo! Tech, industry big names like Adobe, Belkin, and Creative Labs have pulled out of the upcoming Macworld. Although we do not rule out the possibility of Creative releasing one or two Made-for-iPod products for Apple, we are glad that Creative's focus is no longer on making accessories for iPod. And by pulling out of Macworld, Creative can finally concentrate its resources on CES 2009, which will be held in Vegas on the 9th of January.

Creative goes the distance

When it comes to going the distance, no one does it better than Creative. 8 years after the first Nomad Jukebox, Creative is still going strong in this highly competitive PDE market. And in the recent Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, Creative came up as the company with the 2nd highest mileage in the Corporate Distance Challenge with 11, 528 KM, just behind Standard Chartered's 19,236KM and way ahead of companies like Pricewaterhousecoopers (3,835KM), SingTel (2,935KM) and Credit Suisse (2,289KM). As you might have already know, Creative CEO, MR Sim Wong Hoo himself is quite a runner, and it's comforting to see the company united in such trying times. With CES 2009 just round the corner, we're eagerly awiting to see what the company will bring for us this time round ;)

The End of Creative Club [SG]

One of the benefits of purchasing at the Creative Store is the 5% cash rebate members will get on all products (among many others). However this is set to change as Creative announced today that with effect from 5 December 2008, Creative Club will cease to exist. Although one user Natalie did sent us an email 2 weeks ago telling us about this, Creative Customer Support played it down with us saying that the "Creative Club membership card is still active for our loyal customers." Existing Creative Dollar$ will still be valid for redemption at the Creative Stores by 31 December 2008. If you have any questions about your Creative Membership, feel free to contact Creative here.

[LINK]

EXCLUSIVE: Creative picks Apt-X Audio Codec

APT (Audio Processing Technology Ltd) today announces a technology agreement with Creative, which facilitates the deployment of APT’s high-performance apt-X® audio codec technology in new products for global consumer electronics markets.

This technology will provide Creative with outstanding audio quality, ultra low latency (unnoticeable delays between an input being processed and the corresponding output), strong error resilience (ability to detect errors and continue to decode despite errors and finally correct the errors) that enhance the user experience and versatility of digital audio delivered over short-range wireless connectivity.

Potential applications of apt-X in Creative products include stereo headsets, wireless speaker products and home entertainment systems.

This is pretty much in line with the direction that Creative is heading. It recently released it's first wireless Sound Blaster X-Fi Notebook ExpressCard and X-Fi receiver and the HS-1200 wireless gaming headset. Kent Lew, Creative Regional Marketing for Asia also let slip of the company's next strategy, which is to create a "wireless audio ecosystem".

"While desktop computers will still be our core business, we're foreseeing a growth in the gaming and mobile business, that's why we're launching products that cater to these segments," Lew said.

While the idea of wireless is good, those of you who actually own wireless products would know that it could sometime be a very tedious affair to get the wireless products to communicate with each other and even if you did, the quality is sometimes laggy and mediocre. And Creative's wants to solve this problem by partnering with APT to implement Apt-X Audio Codec into its product. What does this partnership means to regular consumers like us?

The Apt-X works with Bluetooth Advanced Audio Distribution Profile, VHF FM, 2.4GHz ISM, or other proprietary wireless standards. The next generation of ZEN can have built-in bluetooth (or the more stable 2.4GHz) which will then allow you to wireless-ly stream audio across the room to a pair of wireless GigaWorks, with no lag or distortion or whatsoever. Currently, there are no existing Creative products that is using Apt-X but one other pro-audio brand that have licensed Apt-X is Shure.

Before we go, I'm sure some of you still doesn't have the faintest idea of what Apt-X Audio is. Simply put, Apt-X is a near-lossless form of digital audio "predictive" compression that works in actual real-time and delivers superior audio quality. Apt-X is great for live transmission, that's why it's been widely adopted by radio & TV broadcasters, and movie post production recording studios (like George Lucas's Skywalker Sound). DTS has used apt-X in its surround sound systems for movie theaters.

We will keep you updated on the development of the Creative-Apt-x partnership, which most likely will be during January's CES 2009 ;) We will also have the link for you when the press release is up.

[APT WEBSITE]

[PRESS RELEASE]

Creative sees the light, thank you for your patience and wants to do an Adidas

Dear Shareholders,

Creative is a company that is known to thrive in adversity. The adversities we are now facing, both internally and externally, will serve to propel us forward, albeit more carefully.

We have a very clear vision of what we want to achieve. We just have to be a lot more focused. We are finally seeing the light ahead of us. The path ahead could undoubtedly still be thorny and challenging, but we have the technology and financial resources to clear the way.

The vision I am talking about is to create a totally new Creative, with a new product line and a new business model, whilst leveraging on the technologies we have mustered over the years, which will again see Creative set a new trend in the industry and open up new opportunities for all.

I am very excited about this new vision, which we will unveil in the next quarter, and anxiously awaits to tell you about it.

Let me now give you a recap of the financial performance for the past fiscal year.

Fiscal 2008 continued to be another extremely difficult and challenging year for Creative.

We had planned to focus on returning to profitability by focusing on several key areas on both the product and operations fronts.

While we started the fiscal year making significant progress in such areas of focus, our plans were shortly thereafter affected by the adverse and uncertain macroeconomic conditions, starting with the sub-prime and housing problems in the US. The ensuing turmoil has during the fiscal year extended to cover other markets, and developed into the current crisis in the global financial markets. These uncertainties have also exacerbated problems facing our products in the weakening US consumer market.

These negative market developments have caused a reduction in revenues and adversely affected planned improvements in margins. In response to these developments, in the second half of the fiscal year, we have taken action to restructure the company with a series of cost-cutting measures to streamline the business operations of the company and reduce operating expenses, the result of which is reflected in the financial results for the year.

Sales for fiscal year 2008 were $737 million, a reduction of 19% compared to $915 million for the fiscal year 2007. Gross profit as a percentage of sales was 22% in fiscal 2008, compared to 19% in fiscal 2007. Net loss for fiscal 2008 was $20 million, compared to a net income of $28 million in fiscal 2007. Net loss for fiscal 2008 included $12 million of restructuring charges, while net income for fiscal 2007 included a $100 million paid-up license from Apple for its use of the ZEN Patent in its products. Creative sold its headquarters building in Singapore, Creative Resource, in June 2008 at a sale price of $181 million, with a leaseback of the whole building for a period of five years with an option for additional periods of three years and two years. Creative made a gain on the sale of the building of $148 million. Although the sale was completed in June 2008, and legal title has been transferred to the buyer, and sale proceeds have been received, for US GAAP accounting purposes, this sale has not been recognized in the accounts for fiscal year 2008. In accordance with US GAAP, the gain on sale of building will be recognized in the accounts only at the end of the initial five year lease term.

In July 2008, Creative repaid the entire $100 million outstanding balance of its syndicated term loan. With this repayment, Creative is now practically debt-free, with no outstanding bank borrowing. This has positioned us well to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the new product line and business model that I mentioned earlier.

Finally, I would like to thank all of you for your patience with Creative. We need this wide breathing space to prepare the company for the exciting opportunities ahead. I believe it will be something you will be very proud of.
To Believe in the Impossible.

Thank you.

Sim Wong Hoo
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

----------------------------------

Creative's 2008 Annual Report is indeed a breath of fresh air. Not only does it spot an au natural cover of a rain forest, even Sim is going all ZEN on us. Despite measures to streamline its operation and return to profitability, unfavourable macroeconomic conditions and adverse market development has caused Creative to suffer a net loss of USD$20 million. Admitting that Creative has been facing adversities both internally and externally and that "2008 continued to be another extremely difficult and challenging year for Creative.", Sim remain confident that Creative has the financial resources and technology to make it throuh the rain. Sim is also going to create "a totally new Creative, with a new product line and a new business model". "We are finally seeing the light ahead of us.", Sim prophesied "I believe it will be something you will be very proud of. To Believe in the Impossible." As long as it's not moving towards the light Sim, I'm all for it.

Reading between the lines:

"Creative is a company that is known to thrive in adversity. The adversities we are now facing, both internally and externally, will serve to propel us forward, albeit more carefully."

Creative created a fantastic PC that had sound, graphics and a Chinese Operating System called the CUBIC CT in 1986 which failed badly because it was simply a product "5 years ahead of its time". In 1996, Creative lost some USD$56million when the CD-ROM market crashed. Apple robbed Creative off it's number 1 position in the MP3 market although Creative has a head start with the NOMAD. As I have said previously, "At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing is reason enough to celebrate." I'm very proud that Creative has never given up and look where it is today.

"a totally new Creative, with a new product line and a new business model,"

To recreate a totally new Creative, obviously you have to start from the bottom of the company hierarchy. I'm of course referring to the Sales and support staff. I have heard countless complains about rude sales staff at the Creative HQ in Singapore and mediocre after sales/ RMA service overseas. This point has been raised from time to time and it seems that nothing much is being done. Hopefully someone from up above (where the light comes from) sees this and do something to improve the situation. We have seen Creative moving away from the low-margin, throat cutting MP3 market into other areas like video capturing/conferencing. inPerson and Vado marks Creative's re-entry into the imaging capturing market. I see the Vado as another potential flagship product for Creative as it's highly affordable and there's an actual demand for it in the market. While with inPerson, it has already created a new business model by charging a monthly subscription fee. This seems to be a more lucrative and sustainable business model compared to one where a customer purchase a product, and no revenue is generated further. I see Creative heading towards this direction. Could a new product line be gaming consoles with subscription (like Xbox Live?) or maybe a ZEN Market place?

"Finally, I would like to thank all of you for your patience with Creative."

It's very comforting to hear something like this coming from a CEO. It's like saying: "I know we haven't been performing up to expectations but thanks for sticking with us. Rest assured things are changing for the better!"

"I believe it will be something you will be very proud of. To Believe in the Impossible."

"We are so going to kick Steve Jobs's ass and dethrone iPod! "

What do you think of Sim's message in the Annual Report? Tell us in the Comments Section below!

The iPod that came from Creative - 7 years on

(0:40 - Steve Jobs acknowledge that there are "small players like Creative ..." but yet no market leader in the digital music revolution. 1:24 - We see a Creative NOMAD® Jukebox on the screen as Steve Jobs goes through the different choices of music players available at that time.)

On October 2001, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the iPod to a small audience at a low key Apple Music Event whom gave a rather lukewarm response. You could almost hear the inner voices of audience that went "Hasn't Creative done that already?" Some of you might not know this but the birth of the Apple iPod was no doubt "inspired" by the Creative NOMAD® Jukebox.

A timeline of key events:

2000 - January - Creative presented the first NOMAD® Jukebox prototype at CES 2000.

2001 - January - Creative shipped 100,000 units of the NOMAD® Jukebox. Creative and Apple executed a Driver Code License and Distribution Agreement, granting Apple a license to Creative’s driver source code so that the NOMAD Jukbox is supported by iTunes. Steve Jobs approached Creative at the MacWorld Tradeshow and indicated that Apple wanted a smaller version of the NOMAD Jukebox digital music player. Creative filed for patent for its automatic hierarchical categorization of music by metadata.

2001 - Febuary - Creative met with Apple representatives, including Steve Jobs, to further explore ways in which the companies could work together. Creative showed Apple several prototype portable digital media players that showed the ZEN patent interface. Apple led Creative into believing that it would be a joint business venture when Apple abruptly indicated that Creative should license its technology to Apple or spin off its PDE business into a separate business entity and Apple would invest in it. Creative declined the offer.

2001 - October - About 9 months later, Apple introduced the iPod stating that it “has applied its legendary expertise in human interface engineering to make iPod the easiest to use digital device ever.”

2005 - August - Creative was awarded U.S patent on its invention of user interface for portable media players which Creative refers to as the ZEN Patent.

2006 - May - Creative seeks U.S. International Trade Commission Injunction against Apple. "The orders sought would prohibit Apple Computer Inc. from engaging in sales, marketing, importation or sale after importation into the United States, or other infringing activities in the United States with regard to the infringing iPod and iPod Nano products." Apple counter sued Creative, accusing it of infringing 4 of its patents. Creative was taken aback by it as "“At no time during these discussions or at any other time did Apple mention to us the patents it raised in its lawsuit.” said Phil O’Shaughnessy.

2006 - June - U.S. International Trade Commission voted to institute an investigation of Apple iPod for infringement of Creative's ZEN Patent. The news was carried on all major newspapers and website around the world as the world watches if Creative would succeed in its lawsuit. Prior to this, countless lawsuits against Apple hasn't been successful.

2006 - August - Apple & Creative Announce Broad Settlement Ending Legal Disputes Between the Companies. Apple will pay Creative a one time payment of USD$100 million to use the ZEN Patent. It will also drop its lawsuits against Creative. Besides the $100 million settlement, Creative also joined the Made For iPod programme which allow it to manufacture accessories for iPod.

The PDE market is a highly voilatile and cut throat industry and Creative has came a long way since the release of the NOMAD Jukebox. Even as big companies like Samsung, Sony and Microsoft had little success in dethroning as the market leader, Creative is still very much a credible player in the market despite its quarters of less than stellar financial results. As the saying goes, "At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing is reason enough to celebrate."

Hear It Everywhere, today.

Today is 17 September, a day Creative promises to take the Xtreme Fidelity standard a step further with wireless freedom. Introducing the Sound Blaster X-Fi Sound Card. Not only does it makes your music sound way better with Creative Xtreme Fidelity sound technology, it also feature a wireless function which allows you to stream your music to any part of the house with the help of a wireless receiever.

The X-Fi Notebook Sound Card will retail for $89.99 in the US or $79.99 Euros or £59.99 end of September. In Singapore, the Card is sold together with the Creative Wireless Receiver for SGD$269 from October onwards. It is a ExpressCard slot, PC-only device. It features Creative's Xtreme Fidelity technology, CMSS-3D and EAX Advanced HD for realistic music and gaming experience.

Main features:

-Broadcast your music with Xtreme Fidelity anywhere around the house with your notebook

-Supports up to 4 Creative Wireless Receivers

-Each receiver can be placed 30ms/100 feet away from the notebook

- Individual ‘zones' can be created around the home to control playback independently

Package Contents:

Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook

Earphones

QuickStart Booklet

Installation CD

Travel Pouch

ExpressCard/54 slot plastic adaptor

Some of you must be disappointed that it wasn't a new player that Creative was hinting at. Was the X-Fi Notebook Sound Card worthy of a teaser press event? We don't think so. But it certainly made many Creative fans excited about today. The X-Fi Notebook Sound Card isn't a very bad product, I do think it's pretty cool and awesome look. Afterall, the percentage of notebook users have been increasing rapidly and Creative is right in catering to this growing group of consumers. However, I'm not sure how many of us would spend that kind of money to purchase both the sound card and receiver. Tell us how you feel about it in the comments section!

[SOUND BLASTER X-FI NOTEBOOK PRODUCT PAGE]

[CREATIVE WIRELESS RECEIVER PRODUCT PAGE]

[PRESS RELEASE]

Are you hear yet?

A few days after the Apple's special event, Creative has sent out a teaser stating its own 17 Spetember event. There are a few reasons to be excited. Firstly, the last time Creative did a teaser, they gave us the ZEN Vision: M. Secondly, after Apple's announcement of the 2nd Gen iPod Touch and 4th Gen iPod Nano and Microsoft's own Zune 3.0, could Creative take things sitting down? Maybe they could, afterall any annoucement right after Apple's can be a good and bad thing. Good because people will compare what you have to offer with Apple and thus generate interest, bad is that the Apple announcement would completely overshadow yours. We try not to get our hopes too high. So we're betting our money on a ... micro portable Xmod transmitter or a range of new X-Fi sound card. Tell us what's your guess in the comments section below!

Is this the new ZEN Vision?

After Creative announced its intention of going flash, the fate of its HD-based ZEN Vision line of players have been left hanging. The ZEN Vision: M and W, though bulky, were highly popular players as they truly support a wide array of codecs without the need for conversion. The above diagrams are from a "portable media device" patent issued to Creative Technology this year. The design indicates a wider than 2.5" screen, a removable battery, an SD Slot and built-in speaker at the top and even a docking connector at the bottom. Could this very well be Creative's update to the ZEN Vision line? Well, considering that Creative had used every design patent issued to them so far (ZEN Vision W, ZEN Vision: M, ZEN V Plus, ZEN Stone, ZEN Touch, ZEN Sleek to name a few), we can safely say we have found our ZEN (although the design does seem alittle outdated!).

[PATENT LINK]

Get In The Game Sale [US]

Creative new refurbished offers [SG]

EXCLUSIVE: Creative at IFA 2008

After showing you Creative's booth at COMEX Singapore, we are bringing you an exclusive look at Creative's offering at this year's IFA. The IFA is especially important to Creative as Europe has always been Creative's strong hold and largest market. If you could recall, Creative launched the ZEN Vision W during IFA 2006 and the ZEN in 2007 also at the IFA. Although we expect no announcement of a new player during IFA 2008, we believe that Creative's current array of new players and audio solutions is sufficient to keep its booth abuzz. Pure Music, Pure Fun is this year's theme for Creative's booth.

First Look: GigaWorks T3

The above are pictures of the yet-to-be-released GigaWorks T3. The 2.1 speaker system is a new addition to the high-end GigaWorks family. It features Creative's latest SLAM (Symmertrically Loaded Acoustic Module) technology that enables the subwoofer to deliver a "thunderous output". Its eco-friendly Low Standby Power technology (which is patent pending) will allow it to consume a negligible amount of power in standby mode. There will also be an update to the Inspire family with the new Inspire T3200 (2.1) and Inspire T6200 (5.1) - which we do not have pictures of. The GigaWorks T3 will retail for EUR$199 (or USD$293 or SGD$414).

[GigaWorks T3 PRESS RELEASE]

These might seem like the GigaWorks T20 and T40 that we are already so familiar with but it's not. Instead it's a face-lifted version called the GigaWorks T20II and T40II. They are more rounded at the back, is darker in color and has a better finish. The LED light has also been removed from the front and placed at the back. The GigaWorks T20 series II will retail at EUR$99 (or USD$146 or SGD$206) while the T40 series II will go for EUR$129.99 (or USD$191 or SGD$270). Both will be available from September onwards.

(Video by www.youtube.com/findyourzen)

Once again, we are the first to bring you the exclusive on Creative @ the IFA. I don't think you can see these pictures anywhere else on theweb! We will have more information for you as the IFA is on-going. Remeber to check us out daily!