The Hindu Business Line : `Notebook market set for accelerated growth'

The details
Prices of business notebooks have declined considerably in the past six quarters.
Notebooks act as motivational tool for employees
Data cards, spread of wi-fi hotspots help

Bangalore , Jan. 5

Till a few years ago brandishing laptop publicly was the privilege of an IT professional. This is no longer true. The laptop-wielding tribe in India is on the rise. Companies are increasingly seen equipping their workforce with these gizmos, be it either their sales team or administrative staff. The penetration of laptops or notebooks as total sales of PCs has increased in the past year.

One out of seven desktops sold these days is a notebook as compared with one in 19 some 8-10 quarters ago. "This is just the tip of an ice-berg," said Mr P. Raghuraman, country manager Business Notebooks, HP India.

The notebook market is poised for an accelerated growth in the coming years, Mr Raman said, adding that factors such as affordability; improved connectivity and reliability were driving the growth. "But, we are still far behind when compared to the developed countries, where the ratio of penetration for notebooks to PCs is 1:1," he said.

Prices of business notebooks have declined considerably in the past six quarters. A business notebook, which used to cost around Rs 75,000 some 18 months ago now costs around Rs 50,000, while an entry-level notebook costs a little over Rs 25,000.

Vendors are seeing increased demand from segments such as corporate, educational institutions, small and medium businesses and government among others. In 2005-06, the notebook sales grew by some 150 per cent over the previous year to touch 4.3 lakh units. "The growth momentum is likely to be sustained in the coming years," said Mr S. Rajendran, General Manager, Acer.

Mr Vinnie Mehta, Executive Director of Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology, said notebook sales were likely to grow at around 100 per cent for the current year, whereas the overall PC market was seen growing at between 25-30 per cent.

The influx of datacards from telecom service providers and the emergence of Wi-Fi hot spots in major cities have to contributed to increased adoption of notebooks, said Mr Manish Gupta, General Manager, Enterprise Sales, Lenovo. With lower cost of acquisition, consumers were able to get newer features like camera and wide screen for the same price, he said.

After equipping their workforce with notebooks, corporates are realising benefits such as improved productivity levels. "One can always be connected to their offices even when on the move as connectivity has improved considerably," Mr Raman said, adding notebook acts as a good motivational tool for the employees.