The opening of DirectD Gadget Mega Store in Petaling Jaya yesterday marked a new era for the well-known retailer which started its operations in the shoplots of SS15 Subang Jaya. One trait that made DirectD so well-known among gadget lovers in the country is its ability to fulfill the wishes of customers who want to be among the first users in the country to own a new device even though that device may not be officially available in Malaysia.
Hence, we asked the DirectD managerial team at its Mega Store launch yesterday regarding its current stand on these devices, which are better known as parallel imports or AP sets.
The reason why we asked this is because we realized that quite a number of top-level executives from almost all the brands offering its products at the Mega Store were present at the launch event. For them to be present at the launch can be seen as a sign of support to DirectD by these brands. After all, DirectD is also well-known for its competitive pricing policy for official sets – another big reason why it is popular among local gadget enthusiasts.
Well, DirectD’s Chief Financial Officer, Esther Kwan stated that the company’s new Mega Store will not feature parallel imports. When asked if the same policy will be applied to DirectD’s SS15 outlets, the company’s Communications Director, Amy Tan said that DirectD has yet to decide any changes for its current AP set policies at this moment.
Despite the answers above, we did spot couple of AP sets at DirectD Gadget Mega Store during its launch yesterday including the ASUS ZenFone 2, HTC One M9, Motorola Nexus 6, OnePlus One, and Xiaomi Mi 4 as shown below:
While it is indeed slightly baffling to see the contradiction, don’t get us wrong though: we are not against AP sets because in general, there is nothing wrong in obtaining such devices since they are legally imported into Malaysia. There just might be price differences as well as warranty issues since these devices are not released into Malaysia by the manufacturer themselves or their official partners in our market.
Remember the iPhone 6 Plus that was priced at RM 7,800 last year? That is just one example of an AP set. All in all, as long as you know and understand the differences between AP and original sets, you are free to choose whichever devices you like.
