Acer intros ultrabook category

Acer India has become the first PC vendor to launch its Aspire S3 ultrabooks in the Indian market. Ultrabook, is a new small form factor in the existing notebook category. Now, Indian customers can choose between netbook, notebook, and ultrabook. Soon, many vendors will join the ultrabook bandwagon. The prices of the Aspire S3 ultrabook start from Rs 49,999. Speaking to TheDQWeek, Mukund S Walvekar, MD, Acer India said, "Ultra notebook is a evolving category which has unique features like ultra-slim, portable and responsive, always on and connected with rich multimedia features. We have taken a big step with the introduction of this new computing device with the second generation Intel core processor family. Ultrabook offers best of world of technologies of smartphones and tablets. We are hopeful as the volume of ultrabook start catching up, we assume this category will contribute to 10-15% of revenue in next year."

Although its priced at premium, the company has taken large format retail route with the partnership of Croma and many other stores like Staples, Reliance, and Next, etc. "In the beginning, we are not positioning it as a mass market product, therefore, we are taking retail way largely and not the traditional channel. Croma will start the selling of Ultrabook from October15 onwards and will be selling it at all their outlets in 13 cities," said S Rajendran, chief marketing offi cer, Acer India. He further said, "Ultrabook will not replace or cannibalize netbook and notebook market. However, we are catering to the segment, which is looking at high-value computing experience for

both content creation and consumption." According to Sandeep Aurora, director, marketing, Intel South Asia, "Intel's vision is also to enable an all new user experience by accelerating this new class of mobile computers called ultrabook. We have set a $300 mn fund for the development of the ultrabook category."