Just a year ago, netbooks and nettops as a category was virtually non-existent in the country. However, the market is now flooded with all big and small players coming up with their versions of low-cost and compact devices. This market segment is being termed as the future growth driver. Not without reason. According to Gartner estimates, 60,766 units of netbooks and nettops were sold in the country. Diptarup Chakraborti, principal research analyst, Gartner informs that this category will witness a 53% growth over last year sales with projected sales of 93,000 units in 2009.
While HCL and ASUS are one of the firsts to come up with ultra-portable devices, other PC vendors like HP, Acer and Intex have soon caught up. S Rajendra, chief marketing officer of Acer says that the drive started in June last year. ?Relevant members of the eco-system like Intel and Microsoft jumped in, which made the low price-point possible,? he recalls. While Intel launched its Atom processor, Microsoft too made available an operating system specially designed for low-cost devices at half the price.
However, netbooks, which are priced in the range of Rs 18,000 to Rs 25,000, are seeing greater uptake compared to their low-cost desktop counterparts – nettops. ?Nettops have intense competition from the assembled PCs, which are available as low as Rs 6,000 for the basic model,? says Manoj Gupta of Lapcom, a dealer at Delhi?s Nehru place electronics market.
Chandrahas Panigrahi, desktop category head, HP-PSG, India, which has launched its CQ2000 series priced at Rs 16,990, agrees that their product is at 20% premium over assembled desktops, but says that it is contributing around 10% to HP?s total consumer desktops. ?The product is finding takers in the tier II, III and IV cities of the country, which is the lower end of the pyramid,? he notes.
However, in the case of notebooks, vendors are usually targeting urban and the semi-urban areas. ?Our Netbook segment is targeted at the ultra-mobile, urban professional, travelling executives and the fashion conscious young generation,? says Stanley Wu, country head, Eee PC and notebooks, ASUS India. ASUS has a portfolio of six netbooks and two nettops under its Eee umbrella of brands. Wu adds that though the Eee PC was the most popular Christmas gift in US and Europe after it was launched in 2007. ?In India, netbooks easily attract first time users as they are designed for wireless communication and access to the internet, while at the same time being inexpensive and compact.?
Rajendran of Acer agrees and adds that even companies from sectors which are heavy on feet like pharma, FMCG and insurance are taking to their devices for their employees. Diptesh Ghosh, notebook category head, HP PSG says that against the popular notion, these laptops have not been very popular among the student class as they demand more multimedia and want to use their laptops as entertainment devices and watch movies.
Ghosh adds that the same product connects with two extreme ends of the user base – the top-end and the entry-level. ?It could be an upgrade for somebody who uses internet through the cell phone and also a first PC for somebody who goes to a cyber-cafe. For Intex, 60% sales of its low-cost devices is coming from the metros and the mini-metros, informs Deepak kabu, national sales manager, Intex.
However, connectivity could change a lot of things. According to industry leaders and experts, content and connectivity are the backbone of the PC adoption. While the launch of 3G services over phone and 3G data cards along with Wi-Max could increase adoption among the mobile class, broadband penetration at low prices could take computing to the masses. Moreover, the industry is also optimistic about the digitisation of various government to citizen services, which will add more value to the computing experience.