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Archana Venkat

Chennai, Feb. 10

If you paid Rs 600-Rs 1,000 for a monthly broadband connection, would it pinch you to cough up an additional Rs 200 a month towards buying a licensed anti-virus software for your computer?

Unlikely. Then why opt for a pirated version of the anti-virus software? This is the message Norton, the consumer product business of Symantec, will communicate to users in India.

“There is a perception that licensed software is costly. We want to correct this by talking about the price points of our products,” said Ms Janice Chaffin, Group President, Consumer Business Unit, Symantec, on a visit to the company’s Chennai premises.

Norton Internet Security (NIS) costs Rs 2,319 for one PC licence along with a year’s subscription, while NIS 2008 version costs Rs 3,009 for three licences and Rs 4,729 for five licenses.

Symantec plans to increase market penetration of its Norton products by asking retailers to stress on the pricing of the products and why it is important to avoid pirated software, particularly Internet security.

It also plans to ramp up relations with Internet service providers in India and sell its products through them, as there is greater propensity to buy a security product while buying a broadband subscription.

Currently, Symantec has tie-ups with re-sellers, distributors, retailers and original equipment manufacturers like HP, Sony and Dell to sell its products.

Additionally, Symantec will, through retailers, inform customers of the additional functionalities of Norton products. This includes browser protection, remote data back-up (on servers, drives, tapes, I-pods or even blue-ray disks) and ‘Identity Safe’, which secures passwords and blocks phishing sites, preventing online frauds.

When asked about the rate of adoption of Norton security products in India, Ms Chaffin said it was tied to the adoption of broadband in the country. She did not share the number of Norton users in India nor disclose Norton’s current market share.

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