Customized PCs

With the introduction of MY PC range of computers in the western markets last week, LG Electronics India is adding a new dimension to the PC marketplace. MY PC range of custom-built PCs are already available in North Indian markets for some time.

The new line of PCs supplement the online booking facilities. Here customers can choose their own configuration online. Not just what is available in standard configurations through the online booking facility. This means that prospective customers can

choose from a wide array of models and configurations by the pick and choose method.

Besides offering wide consumer choice, LG will offer a certification to its preferred assemblers. This would put the stamp of quality on such products sold through the network.

Such an offer of certification should put the stamp of quality on these products in the same way Intel Inside program has excited the assembled PC market. LG's reasoning to enter the branded, customized PC market is a good one. The PC marketplace in India is dominated by the local assemblers who account for nearly two-thirds of the market. Indian PC buyers have flocked to the neighborhood assemblers not just for the price differential offered to due to avoidance to local taxes. The fact that local assemblers were offering customized configuration, depending on each customer's needs, was certainly a strong reason for PC buyers opting for them. LG's entry into this segment should help the gray market to organize itself better and take the competition to a higher level in terms of differentiated offerings.

Also significant is the choice of Linux and other free software in MY PC units. Besides keeping the total cost of ownership low, it would spread the culture of having licensed software in computer in India. One can expect other major vendors of branded PCs also to enter the segment in the near future based on the performance of LG. While these moves may not affect the dominant position of gray market in the short run, one can hope for a gradual scaling down of its dominance in the long run. It depends on how well and how much Indian consumers lap up the customized PCs.