By Grant Shepherd

SYDNEY: At an event held at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art last night, Pioneer Electronics Australia officially announced its partnership with UK digital radio distributor Pure and launched a wide variety of its new DAB+ radio offerings.

Speakers from both Pioneer and Pure were present to educate everyone on the new partnership and products, as well as various members of the Austereo radio network, to highlight the added benefits DAB+ has for the industry.

Talking about the new partnership with Pure was Chris Kotis, general manger sales and marketing, Pioneer Electronics.

“Pioneer has a clear intention to hasten the development of promising new technologies, but our focus on introducing new technologies will not be limited to Pioneer products alone,” he said.

“Pure digital radio represents such innovation and Pioneer is proud and excited to partner Pure here in Australia.”

Kotis also emphasised the strong synergy that exists between the two companies and commented that it was a sensible partnership for the two companies.

Eleven new DAB+ radios were launched at the event, and this represents the largest offering of DAB+ digital radio’s in the Australian market.

The extensive range includes Australia’s first digital radio for the car, the Pure Highway. As well as Wi-Fi models and the only DAB+ models currently on the market to offer features like ‘pause and rewind’ live radio, ‘Intellitext’ and ‘textSCAN’.

“Pure is thrilled to help kick-start the launch of digital radio in Australia. We are 100 per cent behind the move to digital radio with the release of 11 models and plan to introduce seven more models in the coming months,” said Graeme Redman, managing director Pure Australasia Pty Ltd.

“We are very pleased to have Pioneer as our partner for the Australian introduction of the world’s leading DAB+ digital radio receivers,” he said. “Together, with Pioneer, we look forward to locally repeating the same success the Pure brand has enjoyed in Europe.”

The retailers that have already agreed to stock the Pure brand include Harvey Norman, The Good Guys, Len Wallis, WOW, Dick Smith and Big W.