Ruslan Kogan, the online retailer who was slammed by the ACCC for dodgy dealings via his online store, is now attempting to muscle in on the touch tablet market and the potential success of the Apple iPad.Early in 2009, Kogan Technologies promised the ACCC that it would modify its advertising practices after the company was caught advertising nonexistent savings on its LED TVs. Now the company is trying to exploit demand for a new generation of touch tablets ahead of the launch of the new Apple iPad.
The company, which only operates online, is set to release a tablet computer that Kogan says is being introduced to cash in on the demand created for tablets by the recent announcement of the Apple iPad.
What is not known is whether the manufacturers of the tablet will incorporate touch technology similar to the Apple iPad. If so they could well face being sued by Apple, which overnight has started taking legal action against companies like HTC, which Apple claims are in breach of its touch patents in HTC’s Google Android- and Windows-based phones.
In an admission that he is trying to mimic the demand for the iPad, Kogan said, “The iPad did kick-start this, because our business doesn’t create demand, it services that demand. Creating demand is a very expensive business, and costs billions in marketing. You’ve got companies cashed up like Apple who very capable of doing that job.”
In November 2008, Kogan ran advertising in The Herald Sun that listed a series of TVs, cameras, and digital picture frames with claimed percentage savings of between 33 and 45 per cent. Several months later after an investigation by the ACCC it was revealed that the savings did not exist.
In a statement issued by the ACCC at the time, the regulator said, “It is potentially misleading to compare the prices of goods based on the estimated price a consumer might pay for a product with the same specifications from another manufacturer. This is particularly the case where the products are not exactly the same, as such comparisons do not take into account other value-adding features.”
“Retailers must make sure these comparisons are accurate so consumers can make an informed choice,” ACCC chair Graeme Samuel said in a statement announcing its investigation into Kogan.
