“The combination of high performance and low power consumption will turn around the Ultrabook market”

Sandeep Aurora, Director Sales & Marketing – Intel India talked about the company’s plans and vision for the Ultrabook market and how its technology would drive this segment. By Pupul Dutta

Of late all the PC manufacturers are coming out with Ultrabooks, what do you think is the reason for this sudden shift in culture?
It’s an exciting category. When the concept of Ultrabooks was launched at Computex last year, it created waves of excitement among all the OEMs and ecosystem players. The look and feel of the product added to its appeal making most players strive for it.

According to analysts, the market for Ultrabooks is yet to pick up largely on account of high pricing. What is your take on the issue?
While it’s true that Ultrabooks are expensive, one needs to understand that whenever you launch a new product it takes time for the economies of scale to pick up. Moreover, not every OEM has been able to launch these products with a complete feature set. While some have launched devices with most of the attributes that are required, others are in the process of launching it with their sequential releases. In that sense, the pricing will change with availability and accessibility will increase as more OEMs jump in. Ultrabooks are in a nascent stage and, like any other product in the initial launch phase, there is a bit of a premium, which will change over time.

Some vendors have priced their ultrabooks at around Rs 97,000; the lowest so far is Rs 55,000 approximately. Isn’t that a bit high for mass adoption?
The prices depend on the kind of offering that each of these manufacturers provides. Also, the look and feel of the devices also add to the price. Consumers can choose what they want to buy, whether it is an i3 core processor laptop or an Ultrabook powered by an i5 or i7. We want to give consumers a wide choice. Secondly, I don’t think anyone has ever said that the market will shift to Ultrabooks from laptops. Ultrabooks as a category have to pass the consumer acceptance test by establishing themselves as useful devices.

Why someone would pay extra? There are consumers who might pay for the lightness, design, extra battery life, looks etc. Many customers opt for looks rather than features, although Ultrabooks are loaded with those too. However, prices will come down once the market dynamics start functioning. As the numbers grow and new models come in, the prices will settle down.

How is Intel’s technology driving the growth of this market?
We have pioneered this category. We have not only defined the category, but we have also provided specifications about the machine that should fit into this design. Our role was not limited to defining the spec. We also worked with the OEMs, the manufacturers of flat screens, metal casings and other metal components etc in order to kickstart this initiative.

What kind of opportunities are available for partners in areas like embedded, mobile, etc ?
In the current scenario, people are buying multiple devices including laptops, desktops and tablets. The fundamental thing that channel partners need is to expand their portfolio and strive to become experts in not just one device but on multiple devices. Secondly, they need to figure out if there is any area of strength that they would want to build, like someone might want to exploit the enterprise market, while someone else would focus on the consumer segment and build on those strengths. Knowledge enhancement is the biggest thing that partners will need to do.

Where are we headed in terms of computing trends?
Earlier, when it came to computing, people would look at performance as the only criteria for making a purchase. However, people are looking for performance with personality and low power consumption today. High performance is still the primary requirement but it has to be accompanied by low power consumption. Secondly, the user interface is becoming more important. People want interfaces to be more friendly. Thirdly, you will soon see Ultrabooks in many more forms including hybrids and different form factors that blur the differences that exist between tablets and laptops.

What’s next from Intel?
Mobile phones and tablets are the next big things and we are enabling both smartphones and tablets with our technology. The first smartphone with Intel inside was recently launched in India and we plan to expand our portfolio in this area. Our effort is to provide technology for these products and we will do it for both the mass market as well as the premium segment.