Brief

SMBs go portable

Over the past year, SMBs in India have spent about $150 million on portable computing. This amount, according to AMI, will come close to doubling in 2005.

The figure was released by New York-based AMI-Partners. The consulting firm conducts a comprehensive annual tracking survey of SMBs in over 20 countries. AMI recently conducted a survey of SMBs in India across Tier 1 & 2 cities.

“With increased economic growth and higher revenues, portable-owning Indian SMBs have expanded substantially, leading to a rise in their number of office locations,” says Swati Sasmal, Research Manager at AMI-Partners’ Kolkata office.

The principal factors affecting the growth of the Indian portable market include:

• Entry-level notebook prices hitting rock bottom. Most vendors have reduced the prices of entry-level notebooks to woo the SMB segment. The price cut has been mainly through adoption of cost-reduction measures such as introduction of the Celeron processor, and bundled Linux. The future points to a similar trend of gradually decreasing prices—so much so that notebooks could even give higher-end desktops a run for their money.
• Higher-end notebooks being endowed with newer and faster technology. Multinational vendors such as HP, IBM and Samsung now strategically include multiple features such as wireless connectivity, TFT screen, DVD combo drive, data protection and security features in their latest notebooks.
• Innovative schemes. Besides lower price bands, vendors are beefing up their marketing activities with innovative advertising and promotion campaigns. Another strategy adopted by vendors is the strengthening of their distribution network in B&C-class cities in India.
• Introduction of the Intel Centrino processor for notebooks. Intel’s new processor provides lower battery consumption and easy Internet access via hassle-free Wi-Fi-enabled notebooks.
• Mobility needs. Mobility offers several advantages such as lower operating costs, improved productivity, and reduced customer-response time. Emphasis in publicity on these benefits has had a direct impact on laptop sales.