Acer, the $20-billion Taiwanese personal computer (PC) manufacturer, expects its low cost netbook (eMachines) will help the company increase its PC market share in India. In 2009 acer had a 9 per cent share in the PC market.

Mobile professionals such as medical representatives and salesmen will switch over to netbook from laptop for its ease of use and light weight, according to Mr S. Rajendran, Chief Marketing Officer, Acer India.

The company recently launched its eMachine, eM350, at Rs 10,999 making it one of the cheapest netbooks in the Indian market today. As an introductory offer, it comes bundled with an MTS ‘dongle' (USB broadband modem). Weighing 1.25 kg, the netbook with 1 GB RAM and 250 GB hard drive is also one of the lightest 10.1-inch netbooks.

On buying eM350, priced at Rs 12,999, the customer will get back Rs 2, 000 within a fortnight from the activation of MTS broadband.

Since the launch in January, Acer India has sold over 1,500 netbooks in the National Capital Region. In the second phase, the company has rolled out the product in Chennai, he said.

“Our aspiration is to move to [the] second position in the market from [the] third place, and eMachines will help us in achieving this,” he said. “Instead of using a mobile phone, the netbook could be very handy,” he told Business Line .

The combined desk-based and mobile-PC market in India totalled nearly 2.7 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010, a 16.2 per cent increase over the fourth quarter of 2009, according to Gartner. This growth rate was more than five times the worldwide PC market's growth average in the fourth quarter of 2010.

eM350 comes with Windows 7 Starter operating system along with its Intel Atom processor. It also offers features such as video conferencing through its 640-by-480-pixels resolution webcam, social networking, e-mail, Internet and more, he said.

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