The netbook grips the market

Roudra Bhattacharya, Debabrata Das
The Hindu Business Line
In today’s world of convenience and convergence, most working professionals would confess to being acutely dependent on the computer and the Internet. How about then, if these essentials come together in a lightweight platform that you could carry around anywhere? This is exactly what you can do with the smaller and no-frills netbooks that many PC manufacturers are releasing these days.

Ever since the launch of Intel’s Atom processor, the same size as that of a one-rupee coin, computer makers have been engaged in a war to woo customers and establish themselves as the market leader in the netbook segment. But the problem is: With something as small as a 200-page hardbound book, how do you set it apart from competition?

There’s little room in terms of adding features to a netbook. A netbook is essentially a no-frills PC for the casual user. This means that there’s usually no CD ROM drive and at times very little hard disc space than its bigger brother, the notebook. Moreover, the computing power is also lower than a conventional notebook. This, however, results in a longer battery life.

The main concept behind the netbook is that it’s a light machine, used mainly to connect to the Internet. As the pricing and positioning of the product differs, companies add on features like a camera or a high-resolution screen. Some have even moved out of the generally accepted specifications of netbooks to offer an even higher disk storage space, but at a premium obviously.

Low pricing

Lower pricing than laptops is one of the most attractive features of netbooks. Says a spokesperson for Sonal Infosoft India, a multi-brand PC dealer, “Economy brands like Acer, ASUS and HCL tend to show more sales, purely due to their pricing. They fall in the Rs 18,000 to Rs 21,000 range.”

Says Acer’s Chief Marketing Officer, S. Rajendran, “Highly portable, netbooks are becoming increasingly popular as they allow users to hook onto the internet anytime from anywhere. The pricing is around Rs 20,000; and with this category proliferating with variants (higher screen sizes and gesture sensitive touchpads), the price band stretches up to no more than Rs 25,000.” In 2008, ASUS was one of the first companies to bring out netbooks. Priced initially in the sub-Rs 20,000 category the company has now expanded its portfolio after witnessing surging demand from consumers. Says Stanley Wu, Country Head, Notebooks & Eee PC Business, ASUS India, “India is an upcoming consumer hub for diverse computing products. The first Eee PC was launched in India in January 2008 and it received a great response from the consumers. ASUS has rolled out many models of the Eee PC and our products are in the price range of Rs 21, 000 to Rs 31,000.”

Sumanata Mukherjee, Lead PC Analyst, IDC India, says: “Asus and HCL launched their Netbook models early in 2008 and so were able to get a first-mover advantage in this new, emerging segment. The pricing decisions of the respective netbook vendors is a result of the positioning they have selected for their Intel Atom processor-based offerings.”