The ThinkPad series meanwhile continued to do well in the corporate segment of the market. So, Lenovos average realization remained high. The Lenovo 3000 Y300 and Y500 notebooks incorporate biometric face recognition technology for data security. With advanced Dolby support, a Shuttle Centre for easy navigation between features, a slot-in ODD and a TV Tuner cardthe Y500 was targeted at multimedia enthusiasts.

Dell has impressively ramped up its notebook shipments in the last few years. In FY 07, it shipped 83,291 notebooks. Dells visibility increased over the year and buyers saw Dell ads in leading newspapers almost everyday. Dells Inspiron ranges were heavily marketed last year. Dell also launched an ultra portable on the XPS range with a 12.1-inch screen in the sub-Rs 60k price point. Dell also broke its Intel- only policy and launched an AMD-based Inspiron. The company also upped its post sales service. On the corporate side, the high market share of its desktops among call centers/BPOs helped Dell push notebooks by leveraging these relationships. But unlike desktops, these industry segments cannot make a substantive difference to market share, as the requirement for notebooks is still limited.

For Toshiba notebooks FY 07 has been a spectacular year. It secured a whopping 150% growth over the previous year. This has come through a focused strategy for large account business through direct sales and corporate resellers. On the volume front, Toshiba engineered its low-budget notebooks project to reach out to low-end resellers and non-metro markets. Toshiba also shed its premium only image for the first time, and launched a slew of sub-Rs 60k notebooks within its Satellite series. With good financing schemes, Toshiba notebooks saw good volume growth. By and large, success can be attributed to managing reseller relationships.

Acer, on the other hand, saw its notebook volumes declining. The company over the years had been responsible for several price wars with its array of competitively priced notebooks. Last year Acer equipped its notebooks with its Empowering Technology functions like data security management, which uses passwords and advanced encryption algorithms to protect files from being trespassed.

Fighting the MNCs in the notebook space is not an easy task, but HCL Infosytems certainly managed to create a niche for itself last year with products from its Leaptops range. Though sixth in the order for FY 07, HCL took third spot in the notebook market in the JFM quarter. This is a clear indication of its growing stature. HCL saw growth for its notebooks in select industry verticals. Wipro concentrated on pushing more of its notebooks as a desktop replacement and gained further market acceptance. It targeted verticals like government, education and segments like SOHO and consumer over the last year.

Meanwhile, LG launched a slew of models and managed to ship 17,200 notebooks in FY 07. Both Zenith and PCS experienced almost flat growth in notebook shipments. Zenith, was very active in the previous fiscal, but kept a substantially low profile during FY 07. And PCS is getting marginalized from the notebook space altogether.

Changing Purchase Criteria
One of the most significant trends last year was that notebooks became "powerful as the desktops". Technically they could replace desktops, and to an extent they did do so. Thanks to Intels Core 2 Duo and Turion 64x2 from AMD, the overall configuration of the notebook got a boost. The entry level configuration that a buyer looked at last year comprised a dual core processor from Intel or AMD, 512 MB RAM, optical combo drive, a good graphics accelerator card, a wide screen, and even integrated wireless. Two years ago this was a configuration to die for.

This marks a definite change in the way people look at notebooks now. Segmenting notebooks on the basis of configurations only, as was the case in the past, seems to be blurring. Moreover, buyers are looking beyond just processor types and speed. Buyers have become more intelligent and their expectations too are on the rise.

Speaking of notebook segmentations, the only differentiator in an entry level product seems to be OS, or the lack of it. Hardware-wise its either Core 2 Duo or AMD 64-bit Dual Core. Celeron M has taken a back seat. FY 07 also upped AMDs presence in the notebook space. This was primarily due to vendors like HP, Acer and Fujitsu, which supported AMD Turion 64x2 chips.

Just the Beginning
The outlook for the notebook market remains bullish. The buoyancy in both consumer and enterprise segments is expected to continue. On the enterprise side, more and more CIOs would decide on notebooks when a PC purchase decision comes up, as the price differential between a desktop and a notebook keeps diminishing. The government is also emerging as a big consumer for notebooks. For instance, an estimated 80,000 notebooks were sold through DGS&D last year.

Intel and AMD will continue to battle out with new processors such as Intels new notebook processorSanta Rosa. On the consumer side of things, celebrity endorsements appear to have had their desired effects. Utility, convenience, and lifestyle are the new buzzwords. Households with one desktop may either replace it with a notebook or opt for one as a second PC. Retail will push more volumes in the home segment. FY 08 certainly looks promising for notebooks, both in terms of technology and volumes.

Shrikanth G
shrikanthg@cybermedia.co.in

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