After a deep lull in the PC market that lasted for almost six months, the desktops and laptops space has been witnessing renewed action in the last few weeks. While there have been several product launches from the stable of leading players like HP, others like Acer and Lenovo are carrying out major re-branding exercises in order to rejig their India strategy.
According to market analysts, the slowdown in demand has forced major players to re-look their overall India strategy and they are seeing this as a perfect time to plug loopholes and carry out the necessary changes before the market picks up again.
“The consumer market is showing some signs of recovery and players want to create enough excitement in the market right now. They want to be ready with the right kind of offerings,” said Diptarup Chakraborti, principal research analyst at market research firm Gartner Research. He added that India continued to be hugely under-penetrated in terms of its overall PC penetration which also explains the action in the space.
While HP launched six notebooks (including one priced at Rs 23,000) recently, Lenovo topped it by introducing seven new products, which included an all-in-one desktop and a netbook. According to Lenovo India’s managing director Amar Babu, the company has so far focused largely on the premium end of the segment. It is now aggressively looking at the entry level and the value-for-money segment. Levono will introduce 50 new products in India which will span the entire range of the spectrum.
Acer recently hived off its product portfolio into three separate brands. While its core brand Acer will continue to retain the mainstream position, newly launched Gateway brand will target the premium and style conscious segment. The company also introduced the eMachines brand, which will address the value for money segment. Kapil Dev Singh, country manager of research firm IDC India, attributed the recent initiatives to maturing of the market.