Vendors bullish on netbook segment : Samsung targets 10% growth by 2010

Having entered into the IT segment a year back, Samsung India is now eyeing

the netbook business. The company is targeting to achieve seven to eight percent

of marketshare in the notebook and netbook section in next one year.

Though the presence of Samsung in PC business has yet not been dominant, the

company is confident that it would soon get the recognition of a volume

capturing company.

“We started our operation in IT segment just a year back. Looking at the

market trend, netbooks and notebooks have got a high potential and Samsung India

will focus on this segment. This is the first full year that we are selling

these products in the Indian market. We are positive that our channel

strategies, value-added features and cost-efficient product range will drive us

to top five position in the country,” said Seongwoo Nam, Sr VP and GM-Computer

Systems Division, Digital Media and Communications Business, Samsung.

Samsung India is expanding its presence for notebooks from the top nine

cities to a pan-India performance by next year. The company is present in the

large-format retail stores like Croma, e-zone and the contribution of LFR to

their notebook sales is estimated to be around 10 percent.

To get a large marketshare, Samsung is aiming at developing products that are

designed to meet the requirements of the local customers.

Talking about the challenges, Nam mentioned, “A big challenge that we are

facing in market is the brand awareness. Since we entered into IT business only

a year before, customers are yet not fully aware of the brand. However, we are

moving step by step and by next year, Samsung India will have higher

visibility.”

Mentioning the verticals that the company will target for the notebook

segment, Ranjit Singh Yadav, Director-IT, Samsung said, "We are extensively

focusing on the consumer and education segment as they are the emerging buyers

of netbooks. We also want to increase our channel presence from around 600

channel partners to around 1,000 plus partners next year.”

Globally, the netbook market is expected to grow to 42 million units from 28

million units this year.