Amstrad touts em@iler-plus on TV

Amstrad is to spend £ 2.2m on advertising the e-ma@iler plus, its text-messaging, games-playing, email delivering telephone, on television.

The campaign which kicks off in March, will have an effect on second half results, but the promotion will be good for the long term, chairman and CEO Sir Alan Sugar says in a statement.

The product, described by Sir Alan as "essentially a telecoms-based vending machine, retails for £99.95 and carries a significantly lower subsidy than in first time around; and hardware subsidies should come down to zero sometime in the next financial year. Amstrad also receives bigger kickbacks on call revenues through its new deal with Thus.

Amstrad sells e-m@ilers through a separate business, called Amserve. Originally this was constructed as a joint venture with Dixons Stores Group, but it has now become a fully-fledged subsidiary. This follows a capital injection of £12m into the business last September by Amstrad in return for new shares. DSG now holds 10.2 per cent of Amserver, down from 19.9 per cent. ®