Dell unfazed by netbook growth in PH

MANILA, Philippines – Despite dropping its global netbook business, IT solutions provider Dell is confident that it will reap revenues from its other products in the wake of research firm IDC’s prediction that netbooks would continue to push PC shipments growth in the Philippines.

Dell Philippines Country Manager for Consumer and Small Businesses Chris Papa said the company remains focused on its mainstream and high-end notebooks, which bring profitability to the global PC brand.

“The medium- and the high-priced product segment is still a significant market for Dell,” Papa told InterAksyon.com in an interview on Wednesday.

Papa is reacting on the recent IDC report which stated that netbooks — or what it refers to as “mini-notebooks” — have driven local PC shipments to record growth in the third quarter of the year, and would continue to do so for the next year.

According to the IDC report, the large number of low-income consumers in the Philippines, coupled with the low PC penetration rate, had made netbooks such a compelling proposition for Filipinos, especially with units selling for below P10,000 in some stores.

Moreover, In October, both IDC and Gartner reported that Lenovo had leapt past Dell to become the number two PC vendor in the world, as the latter’s market share shrinks to just 12 percent worldwide.

Nevertheless, despite this dip in rankings, Dell ended the third quarter period with $893 million in profits, even if revenues stagnated at $15.4 billion.

“The forecast has been like that, and the mix has always been like that. It’s not the business that we want to be known for and to be focusing in. Market share is not a focus area for us,” he stressed.

In the middle of the year, Dell decided to put a stop to production of its Dell Inspiron Mini offerings because, as the Papa said, “the market is heading elsewhere.”

The Dell executive, however, did not disclose if by “elsewhere” he meant tablet computers, which have been seeing increased adoption recently. Dell is by far the only PC vendor to officially exit the netbook business, but recent reports indicate that Korean-based Samsung may also be on its way out.

Despite not having a netbook business, Papa said they intend to capture the low-income market with its full-blown 11-inch notebook, the Inspiron M102z, which runs on AMD’s Fusion Technology.

The Dell official also announced that it would be coming up with its own ultrabook offering by early next year. The ultrabook is a product segment introduced by Intel, which basically offers a full-blown notebook PC on a thin and light form factor.

Despite other vendors already having offerings in this segment as early as November, Papa insisted that they are not yet too late into the ball game.

“We always base our products on customer feedback. We want a product that would really address those ultrabook users. Not just the form factor, but also the usability and reliability of the product, because that has always been our trademark,” he said.

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