15% of all shipments to be ultrabooks by January, 2013: HP

HP, the computers to printing major said that within the next 6 months, 15 per cent of its shipments would be ultrabooks-the new category of notebooks launched in January this year.

“We should begin 2013 with 15 per cent of shipments from the ultrabook segment. If the predictions of the category accounting for 40 per cent revenues by 2015 are correct, we should be docking 50 per cent revenues from this category in the next 4 years,” said Asish Gupta, category head, personal systems group, HP.

An ultrabook is different from the notebook in as much as it being a lighter, slimmer version of its predecessor. Also, ultrabooks have a core boot-up time of an average 6 seconds, with battery backup of up to 8 hours. A typical notebook takes about five minutes to start and has and average battery backup of four hours.

Keeping the expected growth from the new segment in mind, HP launched two ultrabooks on Wednesday, and is expected to end the year with other model additions of up to four new sets, taking its range of ultrabooks to eight models.

Currently, these ultrabooks are priced between Rs 41,990 and Rs 67,000 on average. This means that an average ultrabook is priced about 20 per cent higher than the average notebook with similar configurations.

At present, HP has about 14 per cent share in the consumer segment of personal computers and laptop sales in India.