Two local technology heavyweights have teamed up to make and market laptop bags for consumers.
Santa Ana’s Ingram Micro Inc., the biggest distributor of technology products, tapped Anaheim’s Targus Group International Inc., which makes laptop bags, backpacks and accessories, to make a special lineup of carrying cases for its in-house private label brand, called V7.
“V7 by Targus” laptop bags will be sold through Ingram Micro’s network of resellers, which distribute to stores, schools, the government and corporations.
The product lineup is set to include a higher end top-loading carrying case, two backpacks, a messenger bag and a slip case, which protect laptops carried within another bag.
Privately held Targus, which got started in 1983, is the biggest maker of laptop cases by market share,the company has roughly 65% of the market.
Ingram started out with V7 products for businesses, including mice, keyboards, flat-panel monitors and ink for printers. It’s sold V7 gear in Europe for more than a decade.
A few years ago, the company expanded to include consumer electronics, spurred by demand for gadgets such as portable navigation devices, notebook computer cases, digital picture frames, notebook batteries and cables.
Ingram contracts with plants in China and Taiwan to make V7 products.
In 2007, the company began pushing its own products in the U.S., which carry more profits for the stores and resellers it supplies to.
Ingram Micro had a recent market value of about $2 billion.
