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Vishwanath Kulkarni

Bangalore , Dec. 12

NOTEBOOK prices are seen crashing further, tracking the anticipated ease in supplies of TFT (thin film transistor) panel monitors from the second quarter of 2004, even as vendors have introduced a slew of products bringing down the entry-level price points in the domestic market.

The TFT panel monitor, which accounts for some 35-40 per cent of the notebook price, uses LCD (liquid crystal display) glass that has been in short supply globally keeping the prices high and supplies of flat panels tight. According to industry observers, the supply of TFT panels is expected to ease over the next four to six months as the additional capacity of LCDs by various manufacturers is expected to go on stream between early to mid next year.

``The easing of TFT/LCD panel supplies, coupled with the expected duty relief in the forthcoming Union Budget, should see the price points for notebooks ticking downwards," said Mr S. Rajendran, General manager, Consumer Products Group, Acer India.

Acer, which incidentally was the first vendor to offer sub-Rs 50,000 notebook in the local market about two-and-half months back, is one among the large manufacturers of LCD glass and TFT panels globally. However, Mr Rajendran declined to hazard a guess as to what extent the prices of notebooks would come down further.

Mr Ajay Sindhwani, senior market analyst, Computing Products Research, IDC (India) Ltd, said the price points for laptops would definitely come down further tracking the easing supplies of TFT panels. Commenting on the heated laptop market, Mr Sindhwani said it was not that the prices of notebooks had actually come down , but vendors had been launching the stepped-down versions to lower the entry-level barrier.

However, the market would take some time to absorb the impact of the launch of these new entry-level notebooks at a lower price point, Mr Sindhwani said. "We expect the notebook segment to pick up from next quarter onwards," he said.

IDC expects the Indian notebook segment to grow by about 55 per cent in 2004, over the current year. The notebook market size for the current year, according to IDC, is said to have expanded to about 85,000 units from 48,000 units last year.

Mr Vinnie Mehta, President, MAIT, said the drop in entry level prices of notebooks from Rs 80,000 to Rs 50,000 should help improve the penetration and be beneficial to the small and medium enterprises.

The easing supply of components used in flat panel monitors and dropping prices in storage devices should see further slide in prices of notebooks, he added.

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