Tablets nearing point of inflexion in India

Tablets nearing point of inflexion in India

Guess how many tablet brands are available in India? Naveen Mishra, analyst with the technology research wing of Cybermedia, says there are 60-65 of them, and it’s unlikely many of them will go the ill-fated Aakash’s way. “It (tablet market) could rather go the handset way. If you recall, there was a sudden surge in demand with the entry of Indian and Chinese low-cost handsets. Today there are 200-250 handset brands in India. How soon the spike in demand for tablets takes place is to be seen,” he said. Though the Indian tablet market is still small at 4.5 lakh units, many believe 2012 is a crucial year when it would swell to over one million. That would be over 100% growth. Not surprisingly, vendors are jumping in. Korean electronics major Samsung, which was the first to launch its tablet in India in October 2010, is the market leader, while Apple, Acer, HCL and others are trying to grab a higher chunk of the market. Gautam Advani, executive vice-president and head mobility, HCL Infosystems, is bullish about the segment, expecting his company to retain its 15% share. But market research firm IDC is conservative in its outlook on tablet growth: it expects sales to move up to 5.75 lakh units in 2012 and not all the way to the million mark. Of this, nearly a fifth will be low-cost ones, the consultant predicts. Interestingly, most of the recent launches have been in the price range of Rs.4,000-10,000, and moving downwards. A fortnight back, Wishtel launched its ‘Ira’ brand at Rs.4,000 even as the price warrior in the mobile handset space, Micromax, is heating up competition with its sub-Rs.8,000 funbooks. On the day of the launch, Deepak Mehrotra, CEO, Micromax, said his company was asking its Hardwar-based vendor to scale up production. “Currently, it (manufacturing unit in Hardwar) has a capacity of about a lakh per month. On the day of the launch, we have already told our partner to scale up. We believe we will possibly run short of capacity,” said a bullish Mehrotra. He believes players will have to bundle the hardware with software packages, which will make the tablet a functional tool, besides being an entertainment and connectivity device. “If you are offering just the hardware, then there’s a lot of competition that you need to worry about, but if you are offering something which is different, unique … in terms of addressing a customer’s needs, then there is a huge potential that can be tapped,” said Mehrotra. Both HCL and Micromax are eyeing markets abroad, too. Sushmita Das, country manager - India, Kobian Pte Ltd, also believes that more than price it would be technology that would work with the tablet consumer. “Tablet is not a segment where the consumer shall shift to a different brand for a slightly lower price. Tablet is an experience and the buying is governed by the features and the ease of operation of the tablet itself,” she said. Das expects tablets to outperform not just laptops and desktops but even smartphones in the Indian market. “Smart phones also saw a sudden increase in the acceptance as these gadgets could give the ease of computing, communicating and surfing anywhere. But tablets have come with a better deliverable, which is with a bigger screen size that allows the user to have a view similar to in a notebook.” However, research firm Gartner differs on this and believes that even though tablets may see higher adoption this year compared with 2011, they are not going to have any major impact on the PCs and will continue to be the second or third device for the consumer.