Sri Lanka imports between 15,000 to 20,000 lap tops per annum although the size of this local market remains relatively small mainly due to the expensive price points in the consumer segment.
John Keells Office Automation (Pvt) Ltd, sole distributers of Toshiba computers, import 3,500 note books annually.
Speaking to The Sunday Times FT, Vice President and CEO Chandima Perera said that a number of factors would drive notebook use in the Sri Lanka market. He added that price competition among vendors would lead to declining prices making notebooks more affordable to buyers. Increasing awareness over mobile computing is also expected to be a key factor, he said.
Traditionally the notebook market has been limited to few market segments with the largest buyer being the government. Perera said‚ “the size of the Sri Lankan notebook market remains relatively small due to the high prices in the consumer space, and enterprise adoption of notebooks is still largely limited to higher management executives.” Speaking to The Sunday Times FT on the sidelines of a press conference convened to introduce Toshiba’s Satellite L310 L300,M300,A300 and the brand new ultra-portable Toshiba Portege M 800 Note Book PCs in Colombo, Melvin Seah, Assistant Manager – Product Marketing South and Southeast Asia of Toshiba Singapore Pte Ltd, said “many are asking for notebooks because they prefer the mobility, convenience of being able to use the same computer in office and home.”
He said that this added with a drop in notebook prices has led to a ‘very visible’ impact on customer preference on notebooks. “Sri Lanka has not been an exception to this,” he said .
adding that Sri Lanka has shown an earlier maturity among the emerging markets. He noted that affordability, quality and consistency between the expectations and the actual product and ability to buy after paying a reasonable price have become the cogwheels drifting the customer towards the notebooks. He noted that the new Toshiba Satellite note books represent a combination of innovation, performance and style. |
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