Seagate improves position

Seagate Technology, one of the world's leading suppliers of hard disc drives, has increased its market share in India to 72.4 per cent in the September quarter of 2004, compared to 61 per cent in the previous quarter, according to AC Nielsen's latest report.

The market share jump follows Seagate's unprecedented announcement of a 5-year warranty on all its internal hard drives shipped through the distribution and retail channels.

"The recent survey validates our assessment in the last survey covering April, May and June that Seagate will further consolidate its market leadership position in the coming quarters," said Aushutosh Bhagwat, director of Customised Research at AC Nielsen.

"Seagate's product and service initiatives to address the growing opportunities in disc drive applications and customer needs will continue to position the company at the forefront of the hard disc drive industry."

An interesting finding is that while assemblers and system integrators continue to dominate the market, accounting for 55 per cent of all hard drives sold, local OEMs have pushed global OEMs to the second place. Local OEMs now account for 26 per cent of the market compared to 19 per cent for global OEMs.

In hard disc drives, the market share of Seagate's nearest competitor fell to 17 per cent from 26 per cent in the previous quarter "� significantly widening the gulf.