Ankur Bhatia, managing director of travel company Amadeus India, can be spotted glued to his mini-Sony Viao netbook any time. The device, picked up six months back, lets him make the most of his time and doubles up as a source of entertainment on long flights, thanks to its high definition CD player. ?The device has made life a little simpler as it weighs only about 700 gm and is easy to carry around,? he said. Though Bhatia has been using mini-laptops or netbooks for years now, the latest device cost him Rs 1,40,000.
In contrast, at the congested Nehru Place market in Delhi, one of the country?s largest IT hardware hubs, netbooks cost almost a fifth or less of Bhatia?s laptop. ?Their compact size is an advantage and the low price tag is attracting footfalls even when the buying sentiment is negative,? says Seema Agarwal of Contec Systems, a dealer. Usually first-time or budget buyers are opting for such devices, she says.
But PC vendors that FE spoke to?HP, HCL, Acer, Asus and Intex?are targeting their netbooks and nettops?the smaller versions of notebooks and desktops-?at the ?ultra mobile, urban professional, travelling executives?. However, there is a consensus that these devices, gradually gaining space, could be game-changers for India?s PC penetration if small towns and rural India wake up to their power.
But without netbooks breaking the price floor and Net connectivity ploughing rural inroads, those game-changes will be difficult. Veerappa Moily, chairman of the second Administrative Reforms Commission points out, ?An important dimension of Internet potential is the possibility of providing public services anytime, anywhere through e-governance.? But that needs prices to dip, like the mobiles or more recently the Nano.
In the last eight months, major PC vendors have launched their versions of netbooks and nettops priced Rs 18,000 to Rs 25,000 (netbooks) and Rs 12,000 to 15,000 (nettops).
India?s PC penetration, at 2.7% and one of the lowest in the world, makes it an attractive market for such low-cost devices. ?The fact is that the country is staring at a mobile-like revolution in computer adoptability, given the challenges of affordability and connectivity are addressed,? said Vinnie Mehta, executive director of Mait, the IT hardware industry body.
These compact devices, especially the netbooks, are being pegged as a fast growing category in the PC market. According to industry estimates, around 30,000 netbooks were sold in 2008. With the category picking up, around 3 lakh netbooks are expected to be sold in 2009. Mait estimates total PC sales in the last fiscal at 73 lakh units. According to a research by Taipei-based Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute, worldwide PC shipment volume would see a slight decline in 2009, but the share of notebook PCs in total PC shipment volume would cross 50% for the first time. The report also adds that emerging market demand will be a key growth driver for the PC market.
?While it?s a fact that the Indian consumer is price-sensitive, in the case of PCs, there is a greater value-consciousness attached,? says George Paul, executive vice-president, HCL Infosystems. But, is there is a magic price point that can explode the market? Diptesh Ghosh, notebook category head, HP-PSG, India, said that however low you go in terms of price, it will always be beyond the reach of some people. ?You can?t hard-sell a PC, however cheap, to someone who has never experienced it,? added Ghosh.
?As broadband connectivity in the country goes up and when there are more government services available online, the utility of the device will increase like never before,? said Chandrahas Panigrahi, desktop category head, HP-PSG, India. ?That?s when the market will truly explode,? added S Rajendran, chief marketing officer of Acer, a global PC manufacturer.
Tomorrow: How connectivity and content can bridge the great Indian digital divide.
