Laptops market growing at great pace in India

PTI Nov 26, 2005, 03.26pm IST

COIMBATORE: Laptops market has been growing at a great pace in India, and its market share would be about 35-40 per cent in the next three years, a top offical of HCL Infosystems said. Addressing a press meet here today, on the eve of a multibrand laptops showroom inauguration, Country Head (Sales and Marketing) L Ramprasad said, Toshiba laptops had three to four per cent market share now and the company has evolved strategies to improve it.

One laptop per child finds way into India

Deepshikha Monga, TNN Nov 30, 2007, 01.28am IST

NEW DELHI: The one laptop per child (OLPC) project, a brainchild of MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte, will soon find its way into Indian homes. The OLPC Foundation is in talks with several state governments to provide these laptops, which cost around $180 or Rs 7,160, in schools. The low-cost laptops could also be retailed at your nearest electronics store soon.

Attributing low and decreasing duty structure for the boost in sales of laptops, he said laptops would be more affordable in the years to come. HCL Infosystems, marketing partner of Toshiba Mobile Computing, has opened about 75 showrooms across the country in the past nine months, and it would touch 150 mark by March next. With 28 models, in entry and hi-end levels, Toshiba laptop could attract new customers into its fold, and HCL has registered 150 per cent growth on laptops, Ramprasad said. Surprisngly about 70 per cent of the laptop sales was through hi-end models in the country, he said. Laptops could not take away or wipe out the Desktop PCs from the market, as both were designed for different customers. The OLPC Foundation, along with Reliance Communications (RCom), did a pilot project with a school in Khairat village in Raigadh, Maharashtra last month. Currently, 60 XO laptops, as these low-cost laptops are known, are deployed in India. RCom, other individual volunteers and the OLPC jointly funded these laptops. "There will be affluent schools that will pay for these laptops and the state governments will have to subsidise it for the rest who can't afford it. We also expect corporates to buy these laptops and donate them to schools as part of their corporate social responsibility initiatives," RCom CIO Sumit Chowdhury said. While the laptops have been developed to be sold to governments for use in schools, sources said these laptops would also be retailed as they have already generated interest among buyers as a learning tool for kids. Sources said RCom is looking at retail of XO laptops but Mr Chowdhury refused to comment.

The laptops come with a 7.5-inch TFT screen, video camera, a microphone, long-range Wi-Fi and Linux as operating system. They consume just about two watts of power and come with an external manual power option. Mass production of XO laptops started early this month in Taiwan. Taiwanese firm Quanta Computers, which is the world's largest laptop manufacturing firm, is manufacturing these laptops. The initiative started with the aim of developing a $100 laptop for children in developing nations. It's expected that as more nations join in and volumes go up, the laptop cost could go lower than even $100. Members of the OLPC Foundation include AMD, News Corp, Google, and Red Hat. World's largest chipmaker Intel, which has its own low-cost laptops called Classmate PC, became an OLPC member in July this year. Consequently, a clear demarcation has been agreed upon by OLPC and Intel, according to which the XO laptop will cater to students in class I-VI while Intel's Classmate PC will cater to students in the classes above that.

HP introduces build-to-order program for consumer laptops

October 10, 2001

In a creative effort to reduce channel inventory while helping to stimulate lagging consumer PC sales, HewlettPackard on Tuesday announced it would begin a BTCO (build-to-custom-order) program that gives its consumer customers the ability to order custom HP laptop computers direct from the factory. Beginning Oct. 17, HP's BTCO program will reduce the channel inventory of HP's OmniBook and Pavilion laptops by providing only a few actual systems to retail outlets as demos, said Lara Kahler, a product marketing manager for HP's mobile computing division. Customers will use the demos to get a hands-on idea of the laptops, then order custom versions for themselves using online kiosks set up by the retail outlets and linked to HP's retail Web site via the Internet. Participating retails include Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Depot, Office Max, and Staples, Kahler said. With the BTCO program, HP's OmniBook and Pavilion Laptops can be customized with practically any available system feature, including wireless networking, a variety of CD-ROM and DVD options, a range of processor speeds and memory, and a choice of operating system, Kahler said. All BTCO orders are built and shipped directly from an HP factory in Taiwan, but domestic rush orders for BTCO systems are available through common carriers, Kahler said. BTCO laptops will also be available through HP's own online retail sites beginning Oct. 17. Besides encouraging consumer customers to explore and purchase the range of laptop computer options and configurations offered by HP, the BTCO program also greatly reduces the number of actual laptop units needed to be shipped to retail stores, said Jim Burns, director of worldwide supply chains for HP's mobile computing division. BTCO will also allow HP to upgrade its portfolio of consumer laptop features more rapidly, with less concern for outdated configurations that could be still sitting on retail store shelves. The BTCO program benefits retail outlets as well by way of smaller inventory investments, Burns said. "Nobody in the channel likes to have a lot of inventory risk," Burns said.
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