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Hitting The Right Note

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[In what they consider to be "a seminal moment in Acer India's product line", the company formally showcased 30 distinctive models of notebooks within the Aspire range that are spread across the S, M, V3, V5 and E series. The overarching slim factor is what holds the Aspire family together. While the E series is meant for everyday computing (and is akin to netbooks and are useful tools in the field of education), the M series —e.g. the Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 — and the S series (Aspire, S3 and S5) have been categorised as ultrabooks, oriented towards high end consumers (corporate professionals, for instance).  The Timeline Ultra M3 is the first 15 inch ultrabook to feature an optical drive for DVD and also includes a Dolby Home Theatre 4 along premium speakers.Windows 7 serves as the operating system of all 30 notebooks which are supported by NVIDIA GeForce GT 640m/630M graphics. The 13 inch Acer S5 is 15 mm thick (less than the new 15 inch MacBook Pro which stands at a height of over 17mm) and weighs 1.35 kg.  The E1-571 is about 1 inch thick and weights 2.6 kg. The Aspire range of notebooks can resume from the deep sleep mode in 1.5 seconds and provide access to the internet in 2.5 seconds.  The PowerSmart long life battery with 1000 charge cycles helps extend battery life by up to 3 times. In addition, Acer's Thermal Comfort technology prevents touchpads and keyboards from overheating through an air exhaust system engineered within the system. Moreover advanced image sensors have been installed to distinguish between a palm and finger touch to help users work on notebooks more efficiently.  USB 3.0, Bluetooth 4.0 and Acer's Thunderbolt technology ensure approximately 10 times (compared to USB 2.0) faster data transfer. In addition, the SignalUp wireless technology promises 6 times faster internet connectivity. On the resolution front, Cine Crystal display, and in particular, the Wide Colour Gamut guarantees 33 per cent great depth in colour and clarity. Ultrabooks were christened last year (at Computex 2011) and have since then caught the fancy of tech pundits and gadget gurus to such an extent that 2012 is optimistically, being called the ‘year of the ultrabook', going by global technological trends. Sandeep Aurora, director of marketing at Intel India and South Asia, believes that "the marriage of Intel's 22 nanometer  tri-gate 3D transisitors (that drive Intel's 3rd generation core processor — Ivy Bridge—technology) with Acer's Aspire ultrabooks will see new form factors emerge in the near future."  Soon enough we shall witness a class of hybridised class of tablets and ultrabooks which will be based on the forthcoming Microsoft Windows 8 platform, Aurora reveals.  In fact at Computex 2012 held in Taiwan, Acer showcased the Aspire S7: a Windows 8 enabled, touchscreen ultrabook. Even though most of the notebooks in the Aspire camp are powered by 2nd generation intel core processors, some of the ultrabooks in the S (S3 and S5)and V3 series are run by the 3rd generation core processor which enable up to 22 per cent better performance. Acer and Intel have been collaborating since 2009 to deliver netbooks, business notebooks, dual screen notebooks and new variants of ultrabooks (in future) Except the Ivy Bridgeproducts, all other notebooks have found their way to the shelves in India since they were launched in the last week of May. <img src="/businessworld/system/files/images/asus-laptop-launch-prices.gif" style="float: right; margin: 6px;" height="144" width="251">Tabs On Growth Even as Acer's Iconia Tabs and tablets—A110,  A210, W510, W5700 and A700—are being launched world over, S. Rajendran , chief marketing officer of Acer India is sceptical of their success in India as they aren't a mass market product and as the "7 inch space is too brutal". "There was a lot of hype around tablets (in India) but because of low IT penetration and buying behaviour played its role where only top institutions were interested and people looked at tablets only as a gaming/entertainment device. Apple is Apple so they're able to hold the market but there is very limited number of people who would buy a tablet," he says.  Rajendran feels that Android platform's ability for conventional content creation is limited and the user interface is fragmented; also, the (paid) app ecosystem is not popular. "Akash further confused people because they couldn't figure out why a tablet was priced Rs 5000 and another Rs 20,000. Even Samsung hasn't been able to succeed with this format" he adds. However, the Windows 7 tablet, the W500 has found keen takers in India, SMBs and enterprises are buying it.  Acer may be betting heavily on ultrabooks and the waterfall effect of thin and slim is, there is a substantial price to pay for them. Price rise is inevitable but if "we're able to spend time convincing customers the full benefit of having a computer." Bearing this in mind, Acer India, is investing time and money towards training employeers in the last customer touchpint, in the retail outlets, whom they call In store Promoters (ISPs). "We're upping the ante 3-4x times, going the extra mile to profile customers and align the sales pitch accordingly. From the point of view of robustness we're also providing online training/certification to these ISPs, understanding, Rajendran explains. The company is present across 90 Large Format Retail (LFR) stores, such as Tata Croma, Hypercity, Reliance stores. There are 90 Acer malls in India and 200 Acer point stores (multibrand stores that sell Acer products). Acer Gallery which is the company's outreach programme to target smaller towns and cities, has about 3000 stores. They intend to create 1000 more stores this year. LFR contribute to about 12-15 percent of the overall sales.  Gallleries in pockets such as Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Lucknow and Kerala have started delivering 10-12 per cent (while others contribute to a meagre 2-3 per cent) while Acer IT speciality stores (malls and Acer points)contribute to majority of their sales. Acer India currently holds a market share of 14 per cent in the notebook segment (globally it is 12 percent) and intend to increase it to about 20 per cent in the next 2-3 years ( depending on industrial trends). "Some of the large verticals are also showing interest for adopting notebooks", says Rajendran. The Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (ELCOT) and schools in Goa, where Acer has delivered about 13,000 notebooks, are such examples.  State governments are increasingly interested in adopting notebooks for educational purposes and the E series could find its way across these verticals. Acer's production facility in Puducherry manufactures desktops and servers. Their manufacturing is spread over Philippines, Taiwan, and China. Ultrabooks are primarily produced in Taiwan and a 1,000 Aspire S3s are shipped to India every month. Acer India's turnover in FY2011-12 was Rs 3,000 crore and they expect to grow 16-20 per cent YoY. According to (technology research company)Gartner, Acer India is currently the Number 1 manufacturer of netbooks and Desktop PCs  while it stands at number 4 among the overall PC vendors in India. (With inputs from Shokinder Goyla)