LG to re-enter laptop biz with mini notebooks by year end

New Delhi
The Economic Times Financial Chronicle The Hindu Business Line The Financial Express Business Standard The Times of India

Korean electronics giant LG will re-enter the laptop business in India with plans to launch mini notebooks by the end of this year.

The company had earlier this year in February stopped selling laptops in India due to financial non-viability.

"Notebooks hardly generate profit as big amount of purchase comes only from corporates...We had pulled out but we are thinking of starting again by launching netbooks (mini laptops) and other product line," LG Electronics India Managing Director Moon Bum Shin said.

The company will position the product in the premium segment and is looking at introducing it in the market this year.

"For notebook as compared to HP our base is small. So rather than push the material (volume) we are going to come up with premium marketing, which we are working on," he said.

The company had stopped selling its laptops in India in February this year. It was earlier selling models such as LG P1 Express Dual and LG M1 Express Dual with 15.4 inch wide-screen and 15 inch TFT respectively.

Cypress eyes cheaper solar photovoltaics

Bangalore
The Economic Times (Bangalore edition)
Cypress Semiconductor, a leading technology company, has placed large bets on the solar photovoltaic market in India with the aim of bringing affordable solutions to the end consumer.

Cypress forayed into the Indian solar photovoltaic market during end of 2008 and has few of its technologies already being implemented by a few enterprises.

Rajeev Mehtani, senior VP, Cypress Semiconductor, India said, “We are working in our development centres in Chennai and Bangalore to develop solutions for efficient use of solar energy and make it more affordable to the end users in India.” Some of these examples from Cypress include the intelligent Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) based charge controllers for solar street and home lighting ensuring a 15% reduction in costs or the LED solar lanterns which operates at lower cost. The above solution are based on Cypress’ programmable system-on-chip (PSoC) device technology.

Meanwhile, the company has introduced the PSoC creator, which automates the entire process of designing a chip. Cypress has working with few of its partners in India to develop these solar photovoltaic solutions. Mehtani said, “We are currently working with several companies in India enabling them to develop their own intelligent charge controllers based on Cypress’s Power PSoC technology. We also have customers that have developed dimmable solar LED lanterns using Cypress’s Programmable System-on-Chip (PSoC) products.” Solar photovoltaic market has become an important area of focus for Cypress and it has working with solar installation and product companies to requirements of the end consumers.

India prepares strictest rules on disposing of e-waste

New Delhi
The Economic Times
India is close to finalising the world's strictest set of rules on disposing of electronic waste. The rules, framed by electronics equipment manufacturers with the help of NGOs, are now being given the final touch by the ministry of environment and forests.

Under the new 'E-waste (Management & Handling) Rules', each manufacturer of a computer, music system, mobile phone or any other electronic gadget will be "personally" responsible for the final safe disposal of the product when it becomes a piece of e-waste, said Guruswamy Ananthapadmanabhan, programme director of Greenpeace International.

This "personal" responsibility makes it the world's most stringent set of rules for e-waste disposal.

The NGO has worked with India's Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (MAIT) to prepare the rules that have been submitted to the ministry. Eighteen electronic brands, including Nokia, Wipro, HCL, Acer and Sony Ericsson, have already begun implementing plans on toxic chemical phase-out and take-back of old end-of-life products in India.

Apart from Greenpeace, civil society group Toxicslink and Germany's external aid agency GTZ have worked with MAIT since April 2008 to draft the new set of rules, whose main objectives are:

- To address the specific requirements for e-waste management;

- To put in place an effective mechanism to regulate the generation, collection, storage, transportation, import and export of e-waste; and

- To ensure environmentally sound recycling of e-waste.

"This includes establishment of a collection system, environmentally sound refurbishment and recycling, mandatory provisions for reduction in hazardous substances and producer responsibility," Ananthapadmanabhan said.

"The proposed rules would provide enabling policies and procedures that would be legally binding for producers, collection agencies, dismantlers, recyclers, transporters, etc., handling e-waste."

According to a recent report of the UN Environment Programme, 20-50 million tonnes of e-waste is generated annually worldwide. In India, a 2008 estimate by the industry put it at 382,979 tonnes per year, which will go up to 1.6 million tonnes in the next three years.

E-waste now makes up five percent of all municipal solid waste worldwide, more or less the same amount as general plastic waste.

As India piles up more and more junk computers, IT peripherals, music systems and mobile phones, a highly dangerous informal industry in their reprocessing and recycling has sprung up, concentrated on the outskirts of Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai.

Smart info signs up oscar winner

Chennai
The Hindu Business Line
Smart Infocomm, IT hardware and mobile accessories provider, has signed up the Oscar award winner, Resul Pookutty, as its brand ambassador. It will shortly roll out a media campaign even as it plans to make available its products through 25 exclusive experience zones across India.

Why Sony's like no other

Amit Ranjan Rai, New Delhi
Business Standard
It's eyeing significant growth focusing on fewer product categories - without targeting the mass market.

Enter the Sony Center, the company’s franchisee outlet, in Delhi’s prime shopping location Connaught Place. Straight on, a bright and huge 62-inch Bravia LCD television will hook your eyes. No, it won’t be playing the regular movie, sports or entertainment channel. Instead, most likely, it will have Street Fighters Dhalsim or Blanka showing off a killer move and calling you for a duel, “Wanna fight?” The fantastic high-definition imagery of the Playstation 3 game on the Bravia will only tempt you to take on the call, “Let’s do it!” Next, you’re on a couch, eyes glued to the screen, palms to the wireless game controller, your thumbs move fast on the buttons to battle out the opponent. If you’re an amateur, an attendant’s ready to guide you through.

Done with the duel, you’re likely to be drawn to a range of sleek, colourful Vaio notebooks on an elevated podium and some of the hippest MP3 players you’ve ever seen displayed round the corner. An attendant may invite you to check on the latest features the Vaios offer, the zipping speed at which you can run applications or surf the Net. He may also connect a notebook to an MP3 Walkman to show how the two work together. That’s not all, perhaps what you’ll find most exciting is a dark theatre room in the outlet with several Bravia LCDs where you can play a movie and experience the home theatre in peace.

Exciting and engaging retailing, isn’t it? That’s what Sony India has been focusing on ever since it renamed its Sony World retail stores to Sony Center in August last year — part of a global initiative to re-align all Sony stores. This was when Sony India Managing Director Masaru Tamagawa rolled out a nationwide refurbishment programme across its network of 240 retail brand stores. “It was an opportunity to take the customer’s retailing experience to a new level. The idea has been to create exciting and engaging store environments with passionate and knowledgeable staff to deliver a compelling hands-on experience,” says Tamagawa. “While the focus earlier was on individual products, now it’s more on demonstrating ‘solutions’ — such as how pictures can be transferred from a digital camera to a notebook or music from a notebook to an MP3 player.”

Revolutionising reading

Shubhodeep Chakravarty
(Delhi edition)
Pocket a book, and more
With technological advances almost everything is available at the click of a button. Books, were one of the few things, that still needed the human touch. But with eBooks and e-Reader taking the world by storm, this human habit may soon change too. Their ever increasing numbers has opened up a new path for e-readers. Portable and high on storage space, these devices are fast becoming a pocket companion for millions.

Text on the run

E-books are based on two platforms -- e-ink and LCD (TFT). While Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) and i-pods make use of the later, the next gen e-book readers have the `e-ink' technology. The device by itself is as easy to use as an external hard disk -- though if you don't know what an EHD is, you're better off without an e-Reader.

One can just install the software that comes with most of these devices and connect to the PC. Some of the devices like the Sony reader can store thousands of PDF files depending on the size. Others like the Cybook Opus and the Hanlin eReader can support picture files as well as play mp3 files.

Apart from Sony, Samsung and Kindle, Plastic Logic plans to unveil its e-Reader by early 2010. Features like camera, Bluetooth, games and WiFi are also being incorporated.

MoserBaer uses mobile vans to sell CDS, DVDS

Kirtika Suneja, New Delhi
Business Standard
Moser Baer Entertainment Ltd (MBEL), the wholly owned subsidiary of optical disc maker Moser Baer, has found an innovative way of distributing its film CDs and DVDs in small cities and rural areas. It has introduced mobile vans in six states to distribute these discs directly in such places.

“Moser Baer does not have a big presence in small cities, so we need to play the price card and take it directly to villages. Film discs will be carried directly by these mobile vans. As of now, there are around six vans in each state,” Harish Dayani, chief executive (Entertainment Division), Moser Baer said

The company plans to have around 100 vans in 25 states in the next two months. Each van will have a capacity of 4,000-5,000, dominated by its Super DVD brand. Super DVDs, currently priced at Rs 45, have three films on one DVD and are available in more than 1,000 stores across the country.

The company recently reduced the Super DVD’s price to Rs 30 and plans to reduce it further to Rs 25. “For rural areas, we are looking at more delightful price points of Rs 22, 25 and 27, depending on the price realities of a particular place and the strength of piracy,” added Dayani.

Japanese delegation explores opportunities in semiconductor sector

M. Soundariya Preetha, Coimbatore
The Hindu
An eight-member Japanese trade delegation was here on Thursday and Friday to explore investment and business opportunities in the semi-conductor sector.

The delegation preferred a combination of investment and off-shore supply.

Members of the delegation included representatives of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), the Kyushu Economic Research Centre, the Fukuoka City Government and the Asia Semiconductor Trading Support Association (ASTSA).

The delegates told The Hindu on Friday that 30 percent of the $ 350 billion global semiconductor industry was in Japan. And, nearly one-third of the Japanese production came from the Kyushu island.

With the car manufacturers in Japan stepping up the annual production, the demand for embedded software was also increasing. Japan required skilled manpower for this. It was also looking at companies and suppliers for the electro control units used in automobiles. The cooperation in this field could be investments in Japan, joint ventures or trade. It was also looking at opportunities in all electronic-related sectors such as equipment and machinery.

BRAND LAUNCHES

The Economic Times
Style Book: ACER launched Aspire one 10.1” netbook in India. It features one mail software, Messenger, Skype and comes in red, black and blue colours.

AMD eyes bigger mkt pie in India

Rachana Khanzode, Mumbai
The Financial Express
Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is scouting for a bigger share in the Indian market. Facing challenges from the leader of global chipmaker, Intel, in the domestic market too. AMD is working on a renewed market strategy, focusing on ramping up its product R&D, working aggressively with major OEMs like HP and Acer, and targeting local government tenders.

According to a global research firm, AMD has an overall market share of 14%. It enjoys a 19% market share in desktops and 4% in notebooks. Intel continues to enjoy the lion’s share of 86% of the overall market share with 81% in desktops and 96% in notebooks.

According to Gartner, India had witnessed a shipment of 9.2 million units at the end of December 2008 and similar shipments are expected this year. Ramkumar Subramanian, vice-president, sales & marketing, India and SAARC, AMD, said: “We continue to invest in our R&D and are also scouting for local government contracts. We have come up with some new programmes with system integrators and regional distributors.” The firm is now providing some incentives to the re-seller community for pushing the AMD products.

According to AMD, it has been facing challenges in various markets including India as a result of Intel’s monopoly. The firm had filed an anti-trust complaint against Intel Corporation way back in 2005 claiming damages. The case is still pending with the US federal district court of Delaware.

Currently, Intel and AMD have their product lines across HP, Dell, HCL and Acer. Intel is also present with Lenovo, Toshiba, Sony and Apple. Analysts point out that besides lack of large product lines, AMD has been largely behind of Intel owing to lack of marketing and advertising initiatives. Diptarup Chakraborti, principal research analyst, Gartner, said: “AMD needs to create interest and awareness about its products among consumers and therefore it needs to invest into branding activities.”

Satnav partners retail chains

New Delhi
The Hindu Business Line
GPS navigation devices maker SatNav Technologies said it has partnered with HCL Digilife, Reliance Autozone and Reliance Digital for making available its devices at these stores. With the increase in consumer touch points, the company looks to double growth this fiscal, it added.

Global IT cos expect Indian PC market to rebound in H2

Writankar Mukherjee, Kolkata
The Economic Times
With computer sales in India expected to revive in the second half of 2009, PC makers and chip manufacturers alike are planning to provide a thrust to their game plan in the country.

While Intel and AMD are adopting multiple initiatives to target the first-time users and lower PC prices in the market, PC vendors such as Dell and Acer are looking at ways to grow the market by tapping the huge potential in government projects and growing consumer sentiments.

For starters, AMD has just rolled out a new entry-level processor in India priced at $35. “With this, we have reduced the entry-level processor prices by nearly $5. This is part of our strategy to do whatever we can to grow the market. We also plan to grow our retail distribution network,” AMD India VP (marketing and sales) Ramkumar Subramanian said.

According to AMD India, PC sales slid by nearly 10-15 percent in the first half of 2009. Arch rival Intel feels PC sales have bottomed out during the first half in India and the industry can now expect a sizeable recovery. Both the chip makers are working with OEM and trade partners to grow adoption of their latest platforms in this subdued market.

“While 2009 started with a lull in government purchases, there is now a healthy ICT tender pipeline. Enquires from the enterprise segment are also rising as they want to refresh their PC infrastructure to control costs. After all, the latest range of PCs significantly cut down power and operating costs,” Intel South Asia director (marketing) Prakash Bagri said.

Intel expects newer form factors like ultra-slim notebooks will drive PC sales in the top-end of the market. The chip giant is also betting on its Atom processors to drive growth in value computing through netbooks and nettops. “With Atom, we expect to create a range of devices for the first time users in India. We are also packing more features like WiMAX capabilities to increase its performance,” said Bagri.

PC vendor Acer is refreshing its product line big time in India. “We plan to undertake a lot of ground level activity in the second half with the festivity season round the corner. The netbook is also gaining acceptance in India as the sub-Rs 20,000 price point is becoming a big draw,” said Acer India chief marketing officer S Rajendran.

Dell India country general manager Sameer Garde said the company is also expanding its product portfolio and distribution channel to grow the business in second half. Hewlett-Packard (HP) is tapping the rural turf to drive growth in line with increasing broadband penetration. HP has adopted the FMCG approach in smaller markets and is setting up a service network before initiating actual sales.

A latest study by MAIT, the apex body of IT hardware firms, estimated the total PC sales in India dipped by 7 percent in 2008-09 but is likely to grow by 7 percent in 2009-10 with total sales expected to cross 7.3 million units.

Browse the web on your TV

Hindustan Times (Delhi edition)
Vu (pronounced `view') has unveiled its Gem collection of three 22-inch PC monitors. It also has a DPF (Digital Photo Frame) printer, which allows connect to your external memory device via a USB port and print images at a cost of 35 images for Rs 500.

The Intelligent TV, Vu's latest release, stands out from all its other products. It is a 46-inch, flat-screen, full HD, PCcum-TV with a number of ports on the back which, along with your usual cable wire, give you the option to connect a USB broadband device. So you can switch between watching TV and browsing the Net, and even split up the screen to do both at the same time.

Best buy tests Internet contract

July 27, 2009
Financial Chronicle
Best Buy, the world's largest electronics retailer, is testing sales of discounted laptops with Internet contracts as it expands higher-margin services to fend off Wal-Mart Stores and online outlets.

PC Players will inject new levels of efficiency in Mobile Phone industry

Pragati Verma, July 27, 2009
The Financial Express
World’s third largest computer maker, Acer has recently jumped into the smartphone market. Unfazed by a slowdown in mobile phone sales globally and disappointing earning numbers from mobile phone companies, Acer mobility division head Aymar de Lencquesaing is confident of smartphone sales. “Consumers are increasingly accessing the Web from their mobile devices,” he reasons. Acer has recently launched five new feature-rich smartphones, in the price range of Rs 24,000 to Rs 35,000, in the Indian market. Hoping to sell more than a million smartphones by 2010, he is aiming to take a 6-7% share of the market in two to three years. In a conversation, he describes the new capabilities smartphones are adding.

Excerpts:

What prompted Acer to enter this already crowded market of mobile phones?

Many people are wondering why we would get into a business like mobile phones. But we think it is the right strategy for us and it is a logical thing for us to do. We are the worldwide number one in netbooks and number two in notebooks. Most people don’t realise this, but Acer’s core competence is mobility products. Our core business is mobile data devices and we think of smartphones as mobile data devices.

Today, the challenge is not to get voice on phone, but to get data applications on the device. Of the 4 billion mobile phones, only 300 million have smartphones. So, you have 3.7 billion people left who can hop onto smartphones. That creates enormous opportunity and there is room for multiple companies. We are hoping to sell more than a million smartphones in 2010 and take a 6-7 % share of the market in three years.

As companies like you and Apple move into phone arena, should we expect phones and PCs to converge soon?

Computing and handset environments are moving closer to each other and are beginning to converge. We PC makers have gone from desktop PCsto notebooks to netbooks and now smartphones, without giving on our earlier products.

There are only five big PC companies and actually only have a massive scale. Among this set, we are probably the only company that has made such a radical, strategic move. We are well positioned to tap into this gigantic opportunity.

Apple’s entry proved to be disruptive? Are you aiming to change the way mobile phones work?

We cannot compare ourselves to Apple. We can only hope to repeat what we have accomplished in the PC business. At the same time, new entrants can be disruptive as they have a new way of looking at things and bring in new business models. PC companies are used to running business at an much higher level of efficiency. It’s a business diktat there.

We see that there are opportunities in the smartphone segment where some players have not run business at same level of efficiency, as margins did not demand it. Overtime, as competition comes in, you will see better value proposition to consumers and business landscape change.

To begin with, our revenue stands at $17 billion. Our operating expenses are low compared to revenue. Margins are not outrageous but respectable. We can bring these to new segments. These are principals that can be applied to new segments. I don’t want to call it disruptive but these will inject new levels of focus into the market that will ultimately bring new price points. And please don’t equate this with entry level; we will have products that are leaders in their segment but come at a good value.

How do you segment the market today?

We do segmentation by usage. It’s not as though we are looking at the competition and then deciding to undercut. We look at specific segments and then try to figure out if 3 megapixel is enough or should it be 5; and if screen size is big enough and so on. And then we try to get the equation work.

I know that our segmentation is not foreign to most of the operators that we have spoken. We have broken the market into six segments.

Smartphones currently attract the early adopter crowd, which tends to be more tolerant than the mass market.

We have also conducted an extensive user study and the results are a reason for us to be optimistic. Survey showed that customers have issues with current products.

These include battery, security and synchronisation of addressbook. Our study also validates that there is a strong implicit demand for Internet connectivity on the go; this explains the success of a product like netbook. We will now offer it in a pocket-sized device.

Canon India to invest Rs 200 crore, launch 100 products

Mumbai
Mint Financial Chronicle The Financial Express The Economic Times (Mumbai edition)
Canon India, maker of digital imaging equipment, plans to invest up to Rs 200 crore this year to launch over a hundred new products and increase customer-reach through promotions.

“We have a capex plan of Rs 100 crore for our Indian operations this (calendar) year, which includes launching over a hundred new products. It is a cash-based investment,” Canon India Pvt Ltd, president and CEO, Kensaku Konishi, said.

“That apart, we will spend about Rs 80-100 crore in advertising and promotions,” he added.

Capital requirement would be met from internal accruals and investment by Canon Singapore.

The company is also eyeing a 20-25% growth in topline each year for the next two years, Konishi said.

“Last year (2008), we clocked Rs665 crore in revenue. This year, we want to reach a turnover of Rs800 crore and susbsequently Rs1,000 crore by end 2010,” Konishi said.

Canon India also plans to augment its workforce to 760 by this year-end by hiring 60 people, Konishi said.

It has a 200-strong product portfolio, including digicams, camcorders, printers, scanners, SLR cameras and photocopiers among others.

Canon India aims to up its market share to 60% in digital SLR cameras from 50% at present, Konishi said.

The company expects government spending to increase, especially in digital scanners and printers and is thus eyeing higher revenues from public sector firms, he said.

Canon India currently has an over 3,000-strong distributor network in India.

It has manufacturing facilities in Japan, China, Vietnam and Thailand.

PC makers plan to prop up market revival

Writankar Mukherjee, Kolkata
The Economic Times (Kolkata edition)
With computer sales in India expected to revive in the second half of 2009, PC makers and chip manufacturers alike are planning to provide a thrust to their game plan in the country.

While Intel and AMD are adopting multiple initiatives to target the first-time users and lower PC prices in the market, PC vendors like Dell and Acer are looking at ways to grow the market by tapping the huge potential in government projects and growing consumer sentiments.

For starters, AMD has just rolled out a new entry-level processor in India priced at $35. “With this, we have reduced the entry-level processor prices by nearly $5. This is part of our strategy to do whatever we can to grow the market. We also plan to grow our retail distribution network,” AMD India VP (marketing and sales) Ramkumar Subramanian said.

According to AMD India, PC sales slid by nearly 10-15% in the first half of 2009. Arch rival Intel feels PC sales have bottomed out during the first half in India and the industry can now expect a sizeable recovery. Both the chip makers are working with OEM and trade partners to grow adoption of their latest platforms in this subdued market.

“While 2009 started with a lull in government purchases, there is now a healthy ICT tender pipeline. Enquires from the enterprise segment are also rising as they want to refresh their PC infrastructure to control costs. After all, the latest range of PCs significantly cut down power and operating costs,” Intel South Asia director (marketing) Prakash Bagri said.

Intel expects newer form factors like ultra-slim notebooks will drive PC sales in the top-end of the market. The chip giant is also betting on its Atom processors to drive growth in value computing through netbooks and nettops. “With Atom, we expect to create a range of devices for the first time users in India. We are also packing more features like WiMAX capabilities to increase its performance,” said Bagri.

PC vendor Acer is refreshing its product line big time in India. “We plan to undertake a lot of ground level activity in the second half with the festivity season round the corner. The netbook is also gaining acceptance in India as the sub-Rs 20,000 price point is becoming a big draw,” said Acer India chief marketing officer S. Rajendran.

Dell India country general manager Sameer Garde said the company is also expanding its product portfolio and distribution channel to grow the business in second half. Hewlett-Packard (HP) is tapping the rural turf to drive growth in line with increasing broadband penetration.

Mobile power

The Times of India (Delhi edition)
With miniaturisation gripping the technology sector, all companies have to do now is combine it with low costs. And that’s exactly what Intex has done with its line of ultra-compact netbooks. The Intex N101-WC1100 has a 10.1” display and weighs just 1.2 kg (with battery). Powered by an Intel Atom N270 processor, it has a 160 GB hard drive, a 1.3 meg video camera and a 1 GB RAM, which is expandable up to 2 GB.
Price: Rs 18,900 (black); Rs 19,400 (red)

Viewsonic launches PC in India

New Delhi
The Economic Times Business Standard The Hindu Business Line
US-based visual display product maker ViewSonic today unveiled its first all-in-one PC for the Indian market at a price tag of Rs 32,000.

The system 'VPC100' is the first of a new line of concept products that the company plans to launch in India. The PC allows users to watch HD movies, browse Internet, play games or view documents with crisp details. It is powered by Intel's 1.6GHz Atom processor, the company said.

ViewSonic Technologies India Country Manager Gautam Ghosh said ViewSonic's PC will be available in India through the company's authorised distributor Redington India at an MRP of Rs 31,999.

The domestic market is flooded with computers with basic features to advanced functions at a price range starting from Rs 8,000 onwards.

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.”