Notebooks: SAMSUNG's big strides
Taking note of the growing importance accorded to security in corporate India, SAMSUNG has made biometrics available on some notebooks. The company has also introduced a feature called Trusted Platform Module that uses PKI techniques along with a fingerprint reader for authentication.
Although SAMSUNG entered the Indian notebook market only last year, the company has already made its presence felt. According to IDC, SAMSUNG has sold 7,000 units capturing a marketshare of 4.7 and 3.7 percent in the consumer and commercial space respectively. In terms of value, the company stands fifth with 3.9 percent marketshare. By volume, SAMSUNG is sixth with 4.9 percent marketshare.
A late entrant, the company realised that a huge market was opening on account of the wireless hotspots offered by service providers such as Bharti and Sify. Another big growth driver for corporates opting for a wireless infrastructure was the fact that the cost of setting up a wireless infrastructure was becoming more competitive compared to traditional wired networks, plus it offered superior flexibility.
After much deliberation, the company decided to focus on Intel's Centrino platform. Says Ramanjeet Singh, Country Product Manager, Note PCs, SAMSUNG India, "We were the first company to launch notebooks based on Intel's Centrino platform in India." According to IDC India, 70 percent of notebook market shipments in India are of Centrino-based notebooks. Of the dozen notebook models that are available, 11 are Centrino-based, and only one is powered by a Celeron processor.
Says Sameer Kochhar, CEO, Skoch Consultancy, "Portability and enhanced battery life are the key reasons why Centrino notebooks are going to play an increasingly significant role in the Indian notebook market." SAMSUNG's decision has truly paid off, with the company signing up clients such as ICICI, Punjab National Bank, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Hyundai Motors, Reliance, iGATE and Excel Services. The order from PwC was for 500 notebooks. Another big deal involved supplying Hyundai with notebooks at 131 dealer locations.
The company placed special emphasis on features such as making the notebooks lighter without compromising on battery life (up to five hours using a single battery), providing a memory stick slot for easy data transfer from digicams and other digital gadgets, and including no less than four USB ports. All this was backed by a three-year warranty.
Taking note of the growing importance accorded to security in corporate India, SAMSUNG has made biometrics available on some notebooks. The company has also introduced a feature called Trusted Platform Module that uses PKI techniques along with a fingerprint reader for authentication.
Beyond Centrino
While its Centrino models let SAMSUNG cater to the emerging demand for wireless computing, it realised the need for tapping the notebook market in the Rs 55,000-65,000 price band. Says Singh, "We consulted IDC and found that the maximum growth in the notebook market was happening in this price range." Acting on this insight, in December 2004 SAMSUNG launched two Celeron-based notebooks, the P-28 and V-25, priced at Rs 53,990 and Rs 64,990 respectively. However, the V-25 was pulled out of the market as it did not have wireless capability. Today the company has only one Celeron model, the P-28 Echo, which supports wireless computing. According to Singh, the model is clocking huge volumes.
The current SAMSUNG range of notebooks starts from Rs 53,990 and goes up to Rs 1,79,900. The P-Series is targeted at the corporate segment while the Q-Series is aimed at travellers requiring a lightweight notebook. The M-Series, with its wide screen, enhanced resolution and portable multimedia features, is targeted at doctors, architects and gamers. The X-Series is for lifestyle users. Of these product categories, Singh says that the X-Series and P-Series are SAMSUNG's hottest notebook families.
Expanding its footprint
The South Korean giant is also strengthening its distribution with plans of increasing its channel partners from 225 to 400 by the end of 2005. It also intends to expand its presence from 24 cities to 36. Of its 225 existing partners, 125 are pure resellers (silver partners), 75 have retail outlets and come under the gold category (they target corporate customers), while the remaining 25 are platinum partners who stock exclusively SAMSUNG's products. The company re-trains all its partners every quarter. Additionally, SAMSUNG encourages them to set up retail outlets as it believes that notebooks have great retail value. Simultaneously, it is also running promotional schemes for its channel partners.
117% growth
With its predominant focus on the Centrino, Singh believes that SAMSUNG's share of the notebook segment will improve in 2005. IDC estimates that 3,00,000 notebooks will be sold in the country by the end of this calendar year. Of this, the firm estimates that 70 percent, or 210,000 units, will be Centrino models. Singh is hoping that SAMSUNG's early bet on the Centrino will help it drive the market. Says he, "We aim to sell 40,000 notebooks which will enable us to capture 20 percent [of the Centrino-based segment]." Its target audience will be corporates and government. With IDC stating that the notebook market grew by 117 percent in 2004 over 2003, the potential is obviously considerable. IDC also predicts that the market will grow to 5,70,000 units by 2008. With improving wireless infrastructure, Wi-Fi on a notebook is becoming commonplace.
Against this backdrop, SAMSUNG's focus on wireless may well help the company gain even more traction.
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