The power of size zero

Sony VAIO X hopes to corner 20% share in the consumer notebook market.

It weighs just 655 gms and is about half an inch thin, setting a new benchmark as the world’s lightest notebook. The closest competitor to Sony Vaio X is Apple's MacBook Air, which is twice as heavy.

So when Bollywood star Kareena Kapoor says she can easily relate to Vaio X as it’s slim, stylish and sexy, India seems to be listening. Sony India estimates it will sell around 120,000 notebooks (including netbooks) by March, 2010.

Kapoor, who has a one-year contract with Sony India, is part of a Rs 20 crore consumer brand campaign.

Sony India, according to Mikio Nakazawa, Manager (Retail Enhancement Division), has always kept two factors in mind — premium and mobility. For instance, it targets the mobile segment with its netbooks — the VAIO W series — which are priced at Rs 27,500. The “premium” (Sony India's definition) segment — VAIO CW series — ranges between Rs 40,000 and Rs 47,000. “And the VAIO X starting at Rs 64,500 aims at both the segments — those who go for premium and are mobile,” says Nakazawa.

The maker of Bravia flat TVs and PlayStation video game consoles, Sony India is targeting a market share of 20 per cent (from 15 per cent now) in the consumer PC market, by the end of financial year 2010. Nakazawa says the consumer notebook market in India is currently estimated at 800,000 units and is expected to increase to 900,000 units by FY2010.

The going, however, will not be easy. After the introduction of Apple’s MacBook Air in January 2008, major players like Dell joined the race to release light and thin notebooks to attract corporate as well as trendy people. Dell’s Adamo XPS starts at Rs 1,50,000 with Dell claiming it is the “world’s thinnest laptop” at 0.4 inches thick. This will compete with Apple’s MacBook Air, Sony’s VAIO X and Hewlett-Packard’s (HP) Voodoo Envy 133 laptop.

Computer makers targeting the highest-end of the thin-and-light PC category are trying to differentiate the systems with stylish designs, as well as performance, battery life, size and weight, say analysts.

“Sony India is a good brand,” says Diptarup Chakraborti, principal research analyst, Gartner, adding: “But Sony needs to lower its prices if they want to gain market share.”

Moreover, Gartner’s numbers are different from that of Sony India. Around 800,000 notebooks were sold in India during the July-September 2009 quarter, says Gartner. “Of these, around 40 per cent or 320,000 units were sold to consumers," says Chakraborti.

Sony India sold 26,000 units, according to Gartner, in the same period, which is less than 10 per cent share. Gartner predicts that around 1.6 million “home (consumer) notebooks” will be sold in 2010. Going by this figure, Sony India’s target of 180,000 would imply a 9-10 per cent (and not 20 per cent as claimed by the company) market share.

“Brands like HP, Dell and Acer will grow the market while a brand like Sony India will grow as the market grows,” says Chakraborti, adding: “But for a player like Sony, differentiators are a must which the company is doing.”