Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 18 Jan, 2005 - Major IT brands such as Acer, Asus and Toshiba amongst a host of many others have come together to celebrate HWM Malaysia's 2nd Anniversary in tandem with its prestigious annual Brand Survey Awards 2004. The celebration comes in the aftermath of CNET Asia's closure of its print publications, a move that has since shocked many and provoked a gloomy forecast in 2005 for the IT media industry in Asia.

But a change of sentiment is notable in Kuala Lumpur with excitement and industry buzz building up as a lead-in to the anniversary celebration and awards ceremony. To be held at the Federal Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, the Brand Survey Awards 2004 signals a coming of age for Hardware Zone's very first franchisee, with a total of 3, 150 consumer surveys from IT-savvy readers gathered across Malaysia from October - November 2004, a threefold increase in response from the previous year.

"We took great effort in retrieving valuable consumer response at various IT shows in Malaysia that includes Computer Fair and PC Fair along with our specially marked kiosk at Plaza Low Yat, " said Simon Ling, Marketing Manager of HWM Malaysia. "The result is an resounding response from our local IT community, who have each taken great effort to help HWM award the brands that have made a distinctive difference in Malaysia."

Besides confirming the Malaysian audience's choice of brands in the IT and CE industry, the Brand Survey Awards 2004 is also a significant measurement of HWM Malaysia success and market share as a dominant IT and CE publication. As Terence Ang, HWM Regional Managing Editor explains, "HWM Malaysia is signaling to its readers and partners that after two years of excellent reviews, the magazine have and will continue to be faithfully consistent as an IT and CE guide to the discerning Malaysian public."

"HWM Malaysia's 2nd Anniversary proves that regional publications can and will succeed, provided that there is consistent effort to engage both the local community and advertisers," said Jereme Wong, Media Director of Hardware Zone. "We aim to have a great celebration here tonight, and look forward to 2005 not with uncertainty, but with positive encouragement on our regional expansion."

The much-anticipated results of HWM Malaysia's Brand Survey Awards 2004 will be released in the February 2005 issue of HWM Malaysia.