Today, 15th December 2009, is day one for Olympus Imaging as they become the new distributor for Olympus voice products within Australia and New Zealand. Olympus Imaging has taken over from Nationwide Dictating who, after fifteen years of voice distribution, have called it a day. The Olympus website for information on Olympus voice products in Australia and New Zealand is now www.olympus.com.au along with Dictate Australia.
So what does this mean for the resellers and more importantly the consumers of Olympus Voice products? For the resellers we now deal with one national office instead of being split across the country, the Nationwide Dictating head office in Melbourne has been closed along with the Brisbane and Sydney offices. Olympus Imaging will operate from one location in North Ryde in Sydney. Some key staff from Nationwide Dictating have been retained by Olympus Imaging which is great news as their valuable experience and knowledge of the Olympus Voice products will be retained and will allow the resellers to continue to have excellent second line support for questions and solutions.
For the consumer we already see some good news. The latest reseller price lists have just been released today and the pricing of most top of the line professional recorders has dropped making the best digital voice recorders in Australia even more affordable, there are some huge reductions. Some examples:
- Olympus DS-5000 old RRP $995 incl. GST, new RRP $845 incl. GST
- Olympus LS-10 old RRP $895 incl. GST new RRP $595 incl. GST
- Olympus WS-550M old RRP $395 incl. GST new RRP $199 incl. GST
Along with the new price lists we are also seeing yet another change in the voice recorder product range. Gone are the excellent meeting recorders the DS-40, DS-50 and DS-65 replaced by the newer DM-450 and DM-550 models. Also added are some of the latest voice recorders available in the UK and US that we in Australia usually have to wait for, like the LS-11 PCM music and nature sound recorder. Also new to Australia will be the VN-6800PC note taker.
Like us here at Dictate Australia, most Olympus Voice resellers will be re-jigging their pricing over the next few days and adding in the new Olympus products. As soon as we can we will get new models in for review.
Welcome Olympus Imaging to the world of digital voice and good luck.
Which staff did they retain? Some were more knowledgable than others…
Thanks for your comment David
I am only familiar with the Sydney office where one person left, Tony and Elizabeta the sales team remain. I do know also that Frank who was the excellent service repair guy from Melbourne also left which is a great shame, he knew the recorders inside out. I wish all well who have moved on with whatever or wherever they work next.
Dave