India is considered to be one of the fastest growing markets for mobile phones, tablets and notebook computers, and almost all the device makers are trying hard to grab a share of the market.
By Sudhir Chowdhary
The $14-billion, Taiwan-based PC maker Asus, which wants to be known as a complete device company, has identified India as a high growth market for the company’s future growth.
Recently, it launched the EeeBook X205, an affordable 11.6-inch notebook with a full-size keyboard, large touchpad, and powered by aqua core Intel Atom processor.
It features Connected Standby technology, which provides an almost-instant resume from sleep mode, and the ability to be socially connected at any time—even in standby mode. Priced at R14,999, the EeeBook X205 features Windows 8.1 with Bing, and is fully-compatible with a wide range of software and hardware.
Asus has a healthy portfolio of devices in India which includes notebook computers, tablets and desktops, but with sales falling in these categories, the company has aggressively forayed into the high growth mobile phone market. In recent months, the Taiwanese firm has received a fairly good response for its Zenfone range of smartphones in the country.
Bolstered by this, it has announced the availability of its widely popular Zenfone at a special price of R7,999 on the special occasion of Republic Day. The company has plans to expand its smartphone portfolio with devices at various price points. It wants to be among the top five mobile phone player sin the country.
“We are persistently focusing towards delivering value products with premium feel and the introduction of EeeBook is testimony of the same fact,” Peter Chang, regional head—South Asia & country manager—System Business Group—Asus India, told FE in a recent interview.
“Streamlined curves, compact dimensions and a tactile finish; EeeBook will complement all the on-the-go computing requirements for tech enthusiasts in the country.”
Asus EeeBook X205 is the first device of its category and the company intends to introduce more such devices in this and the next quarter.
“Over and above this, we also aim at expanding our netbook range in the coming quarters. We are focusing on broadening our offerings to emerge as a leading player across all computing devices,” Chang said.
India, according to the Asus India country manager, has today become one of the most important markets in terms of electronic goods in view of the number of multinationals venturing into the country, increasing Internet penetration, growing entrepreneurship and the evolution of various industries that has increased the demand for such devices.
“Apart from that, by encouraging the BYOD model, companies are instigating more and more individuals to invest in these computing products. All these factors make India a prospective and important business hub for Asus,” he said. “As a diversified market with immense potential, it holds much relevance in terms of how populations in different states and Tier-3 and Tier 4 cities respond to our products. In that sense, it is different from other emerging markets and we are tapping marketing strategies that help us tackle the vastness of the country differently.”
According to Chang, people today want to stay connected to the world all the time and stay updated and for that they are constantly looking for devices which are feature heavy yet light computing devices. The technology market is constantly striving to achieve these goals for consumers through both design and feature innovations.
“We see ourselves growing as a PC+ brand in India that offers a gamut of devices across the board—laptops, netbooks, notebooks, tablets, smartphones and so on. We don’t intend to replace the current computing devices in India. Our aim is to facilitate the increasing number of users. We are launching these products in the country considering its status of being the highest user of social media and the increasing number of people going to the internet,” Chang said, adding, “our underlying motive is to offer the best of technology at affordable pricing to reach various segments of the market. We will be strategically utilising the online space better to augment sales and reach the relevant audience.”
