In 2022, Reliance made its debut in the affordable laptop market with the JioBook. The initial foray, however, proved to be a stumble due to what experts say was an uninspiring go-to-market strategy and underwhelming features. Undeterred, Reliance continued to innovate, resulting in the launch of an improved JioBook laptop last week.
Even as its new Rs 16,499 JioBook laptop is better in features than the previous version, industry experts believe that the latest version may still find it difficult to grab consumer attention and might lean heavily on securing orders from government agencies and educational institutions to gain traction.
The key reasons for this, experts say, are:
- The laptop uses the Jio operating system (OS) based on the Android 11 version, which lacks in performance compared to Windows.
- Some reviews from analysts suggest that the laptop is not user-friendly and may not support heavy software.
- Chromebook laptops as well as tablets by renowned brands in the affordable price range are alternatives to JioBook, besides second-hand and refurbished laptops.
While the current market for PCs and laptops is weighed down by weak demand, changing preferences of consumers to buy an aspirational laptop with out-of-the-box features and easy accessibility owing to finance schemes is also seen as affecting the below Rs 20,000 laptop market where Reliance has ventured.
“Consumers are not really demanding laptops in the under Rs 20,000 segment. Today, smartphones come with better features than laptops in the lower-priced segments. For Jio, the opportunity lies in various education projects run by governments and institutions,” said Navkender Singh, Associate Vice-President at IDC.
According to Singh, JioBook is a good fit to spread digital education. Further, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can also be potential consumers. After Jio achieves scale, it can surely tap into higher-priced segments.
In a weak India traditional PC market, inclusive of desktops, notebooks, and workstations, that fell 30.1% YoY in the January-March quarter with shipments of 2.99 million units, the government and education were the only segments seeing positive traction, according to data by IDC.
In January-March, procurements from government bodies propelled the segment to grow by 25.2% YoY, IDC said.
Laptop and PC majors that were once heavily interested in the below $300 (Rs 25,000) segment are now not focused on the same owing to lower margins. Further, component shortage in the past also prompted them to make laptops in a higher-priced range, where there is demand.
Tarun Pathak, Research Director at Counterpoint, said, “the demand for laptops is in the Rs 30,000-40,000 segment. For laptops below Rs 20,000 like JioBook, the second-hand or refurbished market will also be a big competitor.”
According to Pathak, laptops have a higher shelf life of about five years, and therefore the preference always remains to buy good quality ones.
“Everyone has understood that the low-cost laptop market has volumes but no value. Over a period of time, a lot of companies came in the affordable segment to take advantage of the government orders but those also phased out silently,” said Faisal Kawoosa, Chief Analyst at Techarc.
Trends in the last three years suggest that shipments of laptops, desktops, and workstations under $300 have been around 1.1 million units. The segment contributed about 7% to the total 15 million shipments as of the end of 2022, according to IDC estimates. Currently, brands such as Acer and Lenovo have a 20% market share each in the segment, whereas half of the market is occupied by smaller players.
“Driven by the post-pandemic work, learn, and leisure trends, the sub-Rs 20,000 laptop market has been growing. There is consumer demand for affordable laptops with strong design aesthetics,” said Prabhu Ram, Head of the Industry Intelligence Group at CyberMedia Research.
“JioBook has the potential to attract interest from both consumers, including students, as well as the commercial segment. Its attractive pricing will attract consumers, especially during festive sales,” Ram added.
With regard to the overall PC and laptop market, analysts believe that because of import restriction norms which will kick in from November, demand for such products will increase as people may prepone purchases on fear of an increase in prices going forward.
