US-based Western Digital Corporation (WD), the world's leading maker of hard-disk drives, is set to ramp up marketing over the next few months to build its brand in Thailand as a maker of digital lifestyle products.
Models show Western Digital’s new N750 dual-band storage router costing 3,750 baht.
"The company is ready to allocate its marketing budget to communicate to Thai consumers that WD is no longer just a disk drive maker, but also offers products that serve a connected life," said Amy Tan, a senior manager for WD in Asean.
WD on Tuesday launched the N600, N750, N900 and N900 Central series of home routers in Thailand, with prices ranging from 2,750 to 9,250 baht.
The new routers are designed to serve a consumer's digital lifestyle that requires multiple internet-connected devices such as internet TV, smartphones, tablets and game consoles.
The consumer demands video and streaming content with a high-performance router and easy configuration, she said.
"This is a new market growth area for us, but we still believe 90% of data will be stored on the hard drive," said Albert Chang, a senior manager for WD in Asean.
"Consumers still need a portable hard drive to keep big data even though there is cloud storage service."
According to Ms Tan, the company selected Thailand as the first country in Asean for the home router products, citing prolific growth of smart devices and widespread fixed broadband.
Jesada Pawapootanont, senior sales manager at WD (Thailand), said the routers will be available by mid-December through the authorised distributors Comseven, Eternal Asia Thailand, SIS Thailand and Synnex Thailand.
According to research, the market for home wireless networking in Thailand is to grow by 15-20% this year, up from 480,000 units in 2011.
WD's two hard-disk drive factories in Thailand are at Nava Nakorn Industrial Estate in Pathum Thani and Bang Pa-in in Ayutthaya.