Chennai delhi KolKata MuMbai

National Supplement - PC Peripherals & Accessories

March 25-31, 2013

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From Wired to Un-wiredthe PC peripherals market in india is witnessing a dynamic growth and exhibiting

signs of further development in the years to come

Prasanth MenonMumbai, March25

Indian market has always had dynamic trends with regards to prod-

ucts in multiple verticals and IT hardware sec-tor has been one of the most vivid in nature. Especially, in the last couple of years, the advancements have been fast and diverse in nature.

The evolution of retail came in, followed by the evolutions of Large format retailers and mall culture, and now we have e-tail-ers or online shop-ping websites, and all these clearly indicates a change in attitude towards shopping. As consumers evolved so did the technol-ogy, and today we are slowly progressing towards a wireless lifestyle products with regards to accessories and peripherals.

Industry DynamicsThe PC industry has

witnessed commendable growth in terms of technol-ogy advancements. Today, we have ushered in the era of mobile computing where

tablets, smartphones, ultra-books and netbooks rules the roost as compared to yesteryears where all we had was a bulky desktop. In there also, AIOs as well as slim desktops supported

by wireless mouse and keyboards are now being extensively used.

Now, PC peripherals market in India is witness-ing a dynamic growth and is exhibiting prominent signs of further develop-ment in the years to come. The market was valued at Rs. 15 bn during 2009 and is expected to attain

a CAGR of 20% to reach INR 44.8 bn by 2015 as per one of the market reports. According to an indus-try estimate, the Indian PC and tablet accessories market is worth around Rs

1,000 crore in 2012. While, industry stalwarts state the overall in its entirety the market size would be close to Rs. 2500 crore. In 2011, the Indian computer hardware market in India was estimated to be $3.1 bn, with computers account-ing for 72%, peripherals 21%, and storage devices 6%. Within the computers

market, the share of laptops vis--vis desktops is on the rise, and was expected to reach 40% in 2011 from 29% in 2008. (Source: Mar-ket Line Industry Profile-Computer Hardware in

India and Datamoni-tor). Although it is dif-ficult to pinpoint on one particular number, the sheer market size is large enough to be taken very seriously by vendors as well as channel partners.

The Indian peripher-als and accessories mar-ket holds tremendous potential in the future driven by multiple fac-tors such as a rapidly evolving ecosystem, increasing availability of newer products or variants, rising aware-ness, and usage and growth in affordability. Presence of major PC

adopting industry verticals and increasing replace-ment of obsolete hardware is primarily boosting the market.

In addition, many com-panies are rapidly intro-ducing newer products or variants, with an aspiration to increase and maintain

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v e n d o r C h a n n e l s t r a t e g i e ssudiP de, VP, adata teChnology (india)

ViKraM Kalia, gM, ProduCt ManageMent, intex teChnologies

nathan su, flash sales direCtor, Kingston teChnology (aPaC region)

suKhesh Madaan, founder and Ceo, enVent World Wide

For ADATA, that is completely into home and SOHO storage, the last 1 year has been very exciting. Our

external HDDs, SSDs and USB Flash drives all have seen tremendous growth. The total market size of this industry in India is very difficult to ascertain as no proper and scientific study has been done so far. The growth drivers are availability of range of models and brands right from low value to the extremely costlier ones, brands promoting on the usability and applications rather than the usual gimmicks of higher and faster hardware, growth in per-capita income of individuals and demand coming from the upcountry markets.

In DRAM, ADATA is #2 in India; in USB and external HDDs, we are in the top 5 and in SSD though we are a new entrant with a renewed focus this year we have made considerable inroads in certain geographies like Gujarat, Maharashtra and some parts in southern and eastern India. As a vendor we always strive to maintain high-quality standards to keep low failure rate. For end customers we keep improvising our packaging and branding to make it more appealing thus helping the partners in turn to gain more market share.

ADATA works closely with partners giving them the required tools to go out and talk about ADATA products in the market. The strategy that we work on is to make these partners – kind of brand ambassadors wherein they are equipped with technical training, marketing materi-als, collateral, etc. We are also currently working on a loyalty program for these partners wherein partners doing consistent business will get additional back-end rebates, incentives, etc, for their efforts.

ADATA has a multi-tier distribution system, wherein DRAMs are done by 2 national distributors which includes Rashi Peripherals and Compuage Infocom nationally. For USB and external HDDs, we have 4 regional distributors one in each region; like for North we have Exclusive Systems, for West—Creative, for South—Aldous and for East—Technocrat are our partners. Then we also have industrial flash products that are done by selected SIs.

We are very gung-ho about the personal and SOHO storage segment because of the increasing usage of mobile devices including tablets, mobile phones, digital cameras, etc.

The peripheral and accessory industry in a very dynamic market and has experienced satisfactory

growth in the last one year. With the entry of many new national and international players, the market has become highly competitive. Consumer demand is shifting towards aesthetic values and everyday new product is now a no-wonder thing.

IT market is growing steadily with higher growth coming from notebook categories v/s desktop. With this, the demand of peripherals is also seeing a change with demand of accessories going up.

Envent has its presence in most of the product lines in this category with remarkable differentiation both techni-cally and aesthetically. Even semi-urban India is waking up to compact devices like laptops, notebooks, AIO’s, tablets and other mobile devices. Also, with growing buying power, urban consumer is getting very specific about his colour choices etc. Peripheral market is also following the same trend.

Regarding the accessory market worldwide, this market is driven by smartphones and tablets and we are expect-ing a huge growth in both these categories in the years to come. Smartphones currently contribute around 10% share of the total mobile phone sale and the number is expected to double up practically every year in few years. Tablet market is also growing in leaps and bounds and we intend to ride on that. Similarly with people always on the move, there is a strong demand of wireless and bluetooth products.

The peripheral market is expected to attain a CAGR of 20% to reach Rs 44.8 bn by 2015.

According to IDC, the overall mobile phone market in India has reached approximately 218 million units. This is mostly driven by the burgeoning smartphone market in India which grew to 16.3 million units in 2012. And alongside, the telecom accessory market is also growing at a very rapid speed.

Moreover, with the change in lifestyle, today people are always on the move, traveling miles and across the cities. So, the need of products which can entertain them, keep them engaged, lik power banks, battery boost cases, car chargers, MP3 players, bluetooth keyboards, is rising like never before.

Envent is responding to the scenario with the launch of products as per the market trend. Most of our products are for notebook and smartphone users. We have a decent number of bluetooth and wireless products to fulfil the growing demand in this particular category. We also ensure best in class quality in our products which are RoHS, CE and FCC certified. Moreover we are commit-ted to best customer service, which we do through a 3rd party tie-up. Though we have individual competitors in IT, telecom and lifestyle segments, there is no specific brand which is spread across the verticals and offer a vast range across the verticals.

Envent has been very aggressive is setting up the channel web pan India. Currently, we have more than 20 regional distributors spread across India. As a result of which in the very first year our products have been able to occupy the shelf space of around 1500 outlets in top 75 cities. We have more than 20 online partners who are selling our products through their portals. Cor-porate partnership is our another growth pillar. We are proudly supporting 8 major corporates, fulfilling their time to time requirements. These partners are renowned corporate giants in diversified fields like apparel, soft-ware, telecom etc.

We are quite optimistic about the market in 2013. Dif-ferent studies of economic experts say that the Indian economy has already experienced the bottom and now the only way is to go up. Recent budget also opens lots of hope towards the growth of IT industry as a whole. 2012 being our 1st year, we have put in all our efforts to get the distribution structure in place and now this year we are quite hopeful of getting rewarded for the same. This year, our target is to reach out to as many as 250 cities across India covering all untapped markets. Also, we are on the verge of having few more key LFRs operating across India.

The current fiscal has witnessed tremendous growth for our peripheral and accessory business with about

20% growth in business. The key driver of this growth has been increasing sales volume of tablets and notebooks. The IT accessories have also contributed majorly to this growth curve. For Intex Technologies, the current fiscal has witnessed tremendous rise in business volumes of speakers, UPS, tablets and data cards.

As of today, the total market size of IT accessories is approx 2,500 crore in the country. The current growth in IT accessories have been driven by increasing sales vol-umes of tablets and notebooks. The accessories for tablets and notebooks have grown in conjunction with the busi-ness volume growth in these two product categories.

The fast pace growth of tablet sales is posing a great threat to netbook product category. We see very limited growth for desktops as new product categories overtake traditional computing devices. The business growth of traditional computing devices will be confined to the replacement market. Tablet devices have witnessed major growth not only from a 2G or 3G usage but now with dual SIM segment also. The growth witnessed in tablet category is also driving the popularity of wireless keyboard as well as Bluetooth enabled speakers/headphones.

Our market share is close to 25%. Intex has expanded to offer value added products to existing product lines, which has enabled the company to enhance its overall market share in these product segments. In recent times, Intex has launched innovative products like Bluetooth enabled Soundbar, 3G data cards etc at competitive prices.

We use traditional as well as modern channels of dis-tribution including dealers, distributors, franchisees and modern retail stores. Intex has over 400 channel partners and more than 20,000 resellers. We also retail our products through VARs and various SIs.

Going ahead, we see desktop sales getting limited to governments and enterprises as new age computing devices will take over the new consumer wave. The home segment will be driven by notebooks and MIDs. The key game changer of the entire product and business category will be driven by cloud computing.

Until very recently we had seen greater demand for 2GB and 4GB USB drives and

flash memory cards as compared to any other capacities. Over the past couple of years, we have seen a greater demand for higher capacity drives—8GB and 16GB. This is partly due to the fact that flash memory has also become more affordable to the regular consumer. Consumers are also looking for smaller sized, faster drives and Kingston has accordingly responded with exciting innovations and designs.

A perfect example of Kingston’s innovation and creativity is the recently launched Wi-Drive for Android and Apple devices. As you probably know, Apple devices have limited storage capacities so the Wi-Drive offers users extended storage of up to 128GB that can be shared between a maximum of three users at any given point of time. Likewise, when Windows 8 launched last year, we introduced the new DataTraveler Workspace in association with Microsoft, which is perfectly compatible with the Windows To Go feature on Windows 8. This makes the Windows To Go drive an ideal choice for a mobile workforce. Also the increasing concern over data thefts and the growing need

to protect sensitive information make Kingston’s wide range of secure USB flash drives even more relevant. Unlike several other secure drives available in the market, Kingston’s secure flash drives come with hardware encryption making data theft impossible.

At the channel front, our plan is to empower and educate the channel further because it is their growth and progress that will benefit Kings-ton. Our schemes and promotions will also be developed based on feedback and suggestions provided by our loyal channel partners. The roadmap is to develop an even stronger position in the Indian market this year.

I think we will see some really exciting devel-opments over the next couple of years. There is so much more to tap in the Indian market particularly in the smaller towns and cities. I think as PC penetration increases, as Internet connectivity improves and as there is greater awareness about newer technologies like SSD, the personal storage market will grow manifold. We at Kingston are excited about the forthcom-ing years and we plan to present the market with several exciting new products and innovations in the personal storage space.

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KalPesh Jain, oWner and founder, liVe teChnology

In recent times, the Indian economy is in a sluggishness mode. And yes, it is a fact

that people are not making large capital purchases because of this climate. There is a slowdown in the sale of laptops, desk-tops and printers. However, basic needs cannot be deferred and so the peripherals and accessories industry has been able to grow despite the slowdown. In such a climate, users will still purchase the most functional accessories and add-ons that they require to augment the growing requirements to keep them competitive. Ever since our launch last year, we at Live Technology, provide these value-for-money products.

The recent market trends in this seg-ment, putting it simply as; simplification. Some time back, IT was very daunting to end users. But now the peripherals and accessories industry have innovated products that make a laypersons IT experi-ence as good as that of an expert, thanks to the tremendous ease of use in newer and emerging technologies. This has been driven by more functional accessories and add-on peripherals in the marketplace.

Every component has been de-mystified. Plug-n-Play is the mantra for all the tech-nology on offer. We at LiveTech embark a simple channel strategy, always listen to your customer. Give him the best at the most reasonable price. Cut down your own overheads and pass those benefits to your reseller network. As I have always maintained, success is sure to follow.

Quality and value will always be Live Technologies' priority. We will always listen to the masses. India’s population is an opportunity waiting to be serviced. We thus have an Aam Aadmi ecosystem to nurture. This can be only achieved by ensuring deep countrywide penetration with VARs, SIs and distributors. We are constantly increasing our partners in all territories.

I predict that the market and more so the technology driving it, will evolve from ease-of-use to being an extension of our species. From intrusive to intui-tive, and from external to internal. Just as 100 years ago man predicted undersea and space exploration which is a reality today, the Hollywood images of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator movies and SRK and Hrithik in Bollywood mov-ies show that in future this may become a reality too.

subrotah bisWas, direCtor, logiteCh india and south West asia

The growth of PC peripherals market is India is completely driven by sustainable growth of personal

computers in the country. This market is surely witnessing a very dynamic growth. It means that number of PC and laptop users will also increase. Hence, there is enough opportunity for Logitech to create products, which bring in convenience, durability and a whole lot of enriching experience. Even the tablet PC market in India is one of the fastest growing markets around the globe. With its introduction in July 2010, the market has witnessed huge growth in terms of demand, shipments and emergence of various players. With the growth in tablet market, the accessory segment has also witnessed a huge rise. Specifically, in the past 6 months the competition has also grown significantly as more and more players are entering this market. Growth is also initiated by continuous innovations and modifications in the products and services.

As per CyberMedia research, 5 lakh tablets were sold in AMJ quarter, which is about 650+% YoY. Logitech believes that the consumer propensity to attach acces-sories for improving the overall experience around

consuming music, video chatting and engaging on social networking sites is relatively high. So, there is a huge opportunity for accessories. There is no syndicated research base for quantifying the exact market size or market share; but surely Logitech will be a leading brand in this growing segment.

The trend is that people want to get the latest technol-ogy almost as soon as they have adopted one. People buy one gadget today and within three to six months’ time, new technology comes up. There are new preferences, new needs in the market with regard to latest technolo-gies. Also, Indians have a developed taste for aesthetic value of products. This is yet another challenge for play-ers in this market. We are conducting researches to find out how a product exactly fits into the overall scheme of things of consumers including his personality, his preferences. We are trying to understand the current comfort levels of consumers and giving them options to utilize the new philosophy of 'touch'.

In the field of technology change is a constant factor and most often it’s about an innovative up gradation. When wireless devices had been introduced the trend was being wireless. With the launch of Windows 8, many tech brands have come up with an advance range of laptops, notebooks and desktops with in-built Win-dows 8 and the trend is moving in that direction. With technology getting obsolete every day the trend in this segment too undergoes transition to come in sync with the ecosystem.

We believe we have an evolved customer base for all our products. We do not want to target mass audi-ence, so we do not go for mass marketing stunts like television marketing. We focus more on online market-ing and in-store marketing. We have a Facebook page which has over 2.5 lakh fans as of now. We believe Logitech as a brand has been able to create an aspira-tional value in the minds of consumers. Our products are available online as well in physical stores. Apart from this, we are also expanding our team to expand our channel partners.

Logitech is known to deliver seamless digital experi-ence to its customers and therefore the focus has always been on penetrating the market and therefore we have adopted a 2-pronged strategy to tap 7 metros along with 30 emerging metro markets and the tier-3 cities. Besides, it opened 45 Logitech shopping shops and continued to operate through LFRs like Croma, e Zone, and Staples.

Consumers are now evolving and are keen to adapt to new technologies. They are ready to experiment and use products which make life simpler. Over the past years, we have observed greater level of awareness among consumers. This adoption of newer technology is not just limited to metro cities but even the non-metros, showing positive response towards innovative multi-media and the computer peripheral segment. Today, the market audience is an evolved technology user and is well versed with technology and is in search of innovations.

obsolete hardware due to technological changes/advancements.Main focus for the PC peripheral manufacturers today is aesthetic

value and ergonomics of the products plus enhancing the user experience. We like to offer our consumers the best products that encompass all these, provide style and comfort as well as improve their holistic user experience.

Microsoft is taking a holistic approach to broaden its retail reach. Our portfolio is relevant to a variety of partners including different-sized retail stores, and different categories. We have a direct presence in 15 cities; and in 120-130 towns through distribution and 200 Large Format Retail (LFR) stores. We have a network of more than 4,200 retailers/dealers across 110 cities in the country. Our focus is to cre-ate relevance, push for unorganized and pull for organized retail. We have a strategic plan for both managed and unmanaged retail.

We aim to continue our focus on offering the customer world-class products. We will continue to focus on tier-2 and tier-3 markets, keeping in mind the untapped potential and changes in customer lifestyle and needs in these markets.

Microsoft will also continue its various initiatives to inform edu-

alKa Kaul, hardWare Category lead, MiCrosoft (india)cate and empower its partners across the country. Our focus has also been on attracting more channel partners to our system. This is done by providing exciting offers and services that always enforce Microsoft’s commitment towards developing a win-win situation for itself and the partner.

India’s computer peripherals industry has seen a dramatic growth in the past few years and this trend is likely to continue in the coming years. The focus is aesthetic and performance towards sleeker, more compact, portable, good looking prod-ucts with high end technology. Also, enhanced UI experience becomes critical for today’s work-on-the-go consumers. Demand for computer peripherals will continue to rise due to the increas-ing penetration of PCs, tablets, phablets, etc.

The challenges for the industry are increasing penetration of smartphones/handheld devices as they limit the need to peripheral and accessories, and prevailing grey market.

To sum it all up, the future for peripherals in India looks bright and as people purchase and consumer more devices such as PCs, smartphones etc, the sales for hardware will only go up and up.

sushMita das, VP, business, Kobian

PC peripherals and accessories for desktop market are rapidly

changing as the concept of PC is changing in today's market. With the desktop market getting limited to a certain customer segment and growth of mobile computing though tablets, the peripherals and components are also changing accordingly.

The form factor is a major area on which key components like motherboard PCB, the memory and storage has changed. Accessories like the speakers, keyboard, mouse, additional displays are all changing with more stress on the design and thickness of the product. The trend is moving to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth in all above accessories.

Since its inception in 1978, Kobian has always led the way, breaking boundaries and taking on new challenges head on. From the onset Kobian has cultured a passion for innovation through the develop-ment of easy-to-use, dependable technology to bring out the very best in people. Kobian operates in more than 8 countries around the world, including India, Indian sub-continent,

ASEAN countries and MEA and offers a complete technology product portfolio through Mercury and IXA brands.

In the Indian sub-continent, a huge market is available for these product lines and it is bound to grow only with the increasing adoption of mobility solutions wherein the latest trends are steadily seeing an upward momentum. The acceptance and growth is in the A-class cities now. With the prices getting more afford-able, it shall be gaining acceptance in B and C-class cities.

In times to come, the products shall be getting more mobile, portable and connectivity shall be getting the high-est attention making Wi-Fi devices, 3G/LTE, Bluetooth shall be the main trends.

The PC peripherals market in India is witnessing a momentum as never

before. The main reasons for this are growth in PC penetration, increasing usage of mobile devices, increased disposable income, consumers wanting enhanced experiences and above all replacement of

sunil sriVastaVa, india sales and MarKeting Manager, shenzhen raPoo eleCtroniCs

The current market scenario in India in the accessories and peripherals industry has been positive. Consum-

ers in the recent times are moving from normal products to usage of lifestyle lineup. Everything today is about wireless and there has been tremendous pull coming from customers for these products.

By stating so, it has not reduced wired products sales, however, with regards to ratio, wireless products are

doing far better than the wired ones. Today, mobil-ity is the ruling mantra and indeed the key promoter of wireless products be it a 3G Dongle, wireless keyboard and mice, rout-ers or even headsets. The entire traditional system has changed. Vendors are also offering what custom-ers need and one can easily find specific accessories as per their requirements like for example devices ready to use on the Windows 8 platform.

Rapoo is the foremost leader in wireless technol-ogy and we offer a wide gamut of products based on these technologies. Recently, we launched the world’s slimmest keyboard called Blade and we are planning to roll out one which will be only 4.0mm thick with a metallic base. This product is aestheti-cally appealing as well as can be carried along with ease. Also, we are going to unveil a mouse which can work on any surface, which is also wireless like most of our products. In addition, we also offer a wide range of headsets and speakers.

Rapoo has the patent for super anti-interference 5.8GHz wireless transmission and have an extensive range of products under this spectrum. Also, due to our research in this segment, we have product which run on single cell and lasts from 9-18 month battery life.

The trend is clear and majority of vendors are emphasiz-ing on wireless products. We have been a recent entrants into the Indian market but the support and response we have got has been tremendous and we expect this momen-tum to continue and grow further. Overall, the market will further consume more products in times, and wireless technology and related products are our expertise area, which provides us with all positive signs of growth.

Rapoo will be catering to the mass through our chan-nel partners. We have already appointed distributors for north, east and west. Creative peripherals will be our exclusive distributor for west while Savera marketing will look after the requirements of north and east regions. We are currently in process of identifying a suitable distribu-tor for south region.

In addition, our key channel partners will be called volume partners and we have already rolled out incentive programs for the community, which will be a quarterly program. The most recent one is the Gold coin scheme which will be for the duration of 21st -31st March. We are also working hard to closely associate with our reseller base and for the same we have formed a Rapoo Reseller Club and a lot of initiatives will be conducted through this club specifically for the reseller community. In addi-tion, we will be interesting products launches lined for the coming months.

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their market share. Also, the channel partners, resellers and retailers are keen on selling these products as the margins are significant as compared to PCs or laptops and also the goods are fast moving in nature.

At a broader terms, the key trends identified in the India PC peripheral market includes a large number of vendors foraying into smart handheld device segment and its acces-sories. Secondly, aesthetic value of products is becoming an important criteria for customers and wireless products are slowly being preferred over wired ones now.

Most of the vendors acknowledge the above trends are rolling out products with specific audiences in mind along with their preferences. In recent times, peripheral manufacturers have also emphasized on the aesthetics value of products and are constantly coming up with more portable, compact and attractive looking products.

In last two years, although the overall economy was wit-nessing a downtrend, and the purchases in the market had dropped across India by at least 20%, in the accessories market many vendors had a flat period while there were a few who observed growth in this sluggishness. One of the key reasons this market did not see a downtrend is due to the nature of products. These are not heave investments and at the same time are a requisite in day-to-day life.

Cool QuotientIncreasing demand for accessories from consumers and

their easy availability in India have helped the market to grow. New vendors specializing in IT and telecom accessories are coming to the country to explore the potential here. For example, the most recent entrant has been Rapoo and a domestic company called LiveTech. However, vendors such as Intex, Kobian, Targus, Belkin, Lenovo, Logitech and many more dominate the segment in the country.

Prevailing stiff competition in the market makes it a mandatory procedure for new entrants to develop a mar-ket entry strategy. Some of the key strategies identified include establishing brand image and creating awareness, introducing new technologies, cool designs and more.

Technologically, the most evident trend is the where the consumers have begun to prefer wireless technology over wired. In addition, sleek, slim and sturdy designs have also been much appreciated by the mass.

Wireless products like routers, mini routers, headsets, keyboards, mice and speakers have seen commendable increase in sales. However, this is not an indication that the wired market is going to phase out, this will continue to grow as it has been witnessed in the last couple of years. The new age consumers especially between the age of 21-35 years with disposable income and a liking for branded products and are always on the go have the key drivers of the wireless segment.

Even the BYOD concept emerging in corporates and government actively promoting computerization/ digitiza-tion, the accessory and peripheral market has seen growth. It has been a win-win situation for most of the vendors as today there is a consumer in each segment looking out for a specific product fulfilling his/her requirement.

ConclusionGoing ahead, the Indian computer and peripherals

market is expected to continue to expand to meet local demand. High growth areas like telecommunications, banking and financial services, manufacturing, retail, and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)/IT-enabled services are the major consumers of computers and peripherals and these verticals will continue to provide the required impetus for sustaining this growth momentum. Also, these verticals are the early adopters of newer technologies and for this segment which thrives on innovation, these verticals are like gold mines.

In addition, the price-sensitive computer hardware market has responded positively to a drop in prices, espe-cially at the entry-level. Private sector firms, government offices, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and small office home office (SOHO) users will also continue to computerize their operations, contributing to the growth of this market. Indian government itself has major plans on utilization of technology apart from state governments, which are contributing in their own ways.

With a rapidly expanding usage of internet, smart-phones, tablets, netbooks, and laptops sales are only bound to increase, and with every sale of any of the above device opens up the opportunity for the accessories and peripherals vendors for sales.

The new era seems to be bright with wide gamut of avenues opening up and looks less cluttered or may be just wireless...

(prasanthm@cybermedia.co.in)

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Plextor Launches Professional SSds In India

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raJesh doshi, direCtor, toP-notCh infotronix (zebroniCs brand)

As long as peripheral business goes, the competition is very stiff. But in recent years, its been changing from

just being price driven to value driven. Consumers don't mind to pay a little extra for an added feature or a better quality product, provided its worth. We are trying to add more value to the entire Zebronics product range in terms of features, quality, finish, build etc. Its going to help us survive the competition and with our above mentioned USP, Zebronics would emerge as the first choice of the Indian consumers.

We are now in peripherals business for more than 13 years. We understand the market better and Zebronics has reached a place where people know the brand and its strengths. We have a strong presence all over the country. We have a very large range and variety of prod-ucts which help the channel. We have products right from entry level to high end. We update the products very regularly and keep the product range fresh and latest. Our products boast of a good value for money proposition and well priced than the competition. We have a dedicated ,energetic and a young team. In other words, Zebby is throughout India with a strong service set up, for and after sales support. Zebronics tagline has been to stay 'always ahead' and the mentioned engines would help us achieve and we will continue to remain committed.

Channel community is very important for any brand to survive hence only having the right products may not yet be enough to survive without the channel support. We have a very big and loyal channel partners. Right channel strategy depending on the market situation is implemented by us from time to time to ensure chan-nels satisfaction and trust in zebronics. A right channel move makes the product reach even a most remote part and a wrong strategy even for a good product makes it unsuccessful. We understand the same and hence chan-nel satisfaction is our priority though there is endless scope for improvement and we aspire to improve.

The market in India has matured and evolved a lot

in recent few years. People have been expecting more and more from us. We have been trying really hard to meet those expectations and in many ways have been successful. Another uniqueness about Indian market is it’s very much value driven though every brand has its own strength .Today’s customer wants the best in a given budget. Best meaning, best in quality, aesthetics, features and service , this is evolving to be our USP, our strength. We are confident of meeting the requirements through our strong product range.

We have a very big and loyal channel partners. We try to give them as much opportunities as we can, so its a win-win situation for both partners and the company. We regularly come out with new schemes for our them, which in turn help them indirectly with prices and sales. We also take feedback from channels and take action on them. If the company is a vehicle, the channel partners are like wheels which help the company/brand, move. Direct and indirect, we have more than 10,000 channel partners working with us.

With regards to product offerings, Zebronics' latest addition to its line-up is — the Monster Tower speakers that provide the ultimate listening experience. These speakers are designed keeping in mind music lovers and audiophiles with their need for high quality sound, functionality and design. The three variants in the tower line incorporate dual 8-inch drivers for low range, 4-inch drivers for mid range and 1-inch cloth dome tweeters for higher frequency for room filling sound. Our next focus is going to be in the entertainment arena. In the last two years we have seen that the demand for sound systems has grown tremendously. And most of it is now digital music. With the spread of cell phones in the small towns and villages, users in even smaller cities are enjoying their music digitally. Besides, children constitute a sub-stantial section of our consumers. We plan to cover all sub-segments and user categories in the entertainment and sound marketspace, with products that appeal to every pocket.

From Wired to Un-wired

dQW neWs bureauMumbai. March 26

The world-leading d e v e l o p e r o f awarding winning

Solid State Drives (SSD’s); Plextor (www.plextor.com) have decided mark its entry into the Indian Market. Plextor has announced the launch of its M5PRO SSD series with the world’s fastest random read and write speeds of 100,000 / 88,000 IOPS. The Plextor M5Pro is a professional SSD designed for business and advanced users who demand high performance, reliability, and true data integrity.

The M5Pro has a unique double-data protection sys-tem to protect the integ-rity and confidentiality of your data. To confirm that each piece of data is correctly stored with one hundred percent accuracy the newest 128-bit error correction code is used; this is backed by a unique Robust Data Hold-out Algo-rithm in Plextor’s exclusive

The Plextor M5Pro is the true definition of a profes-sional SSD: a quality drive built and tested to be fast, reliable, and engineered for enterprise-grade data protection. These Drives are the best for the Perfor-mance hungry applications like HD Video, 3D Design, Digital Images and Graph-ics and Music.”

The two series of SSD’s that have been currently launched in India are M5Pro series and M5S series, these SSD’s are backed by a comprehensive five-year and three-year warranty respectively and are available in 64 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB capacities.

PLEXTOR is a world-leading developer o f award -winning so l id state drives, and other high-performance digital storage devices for profes-sionals, consumers, and enterprises. The PLEX-TOR brand of storage and multimedia products is owned by Shinano Kenshi of Japan.

firmware. This algorithm ensures that even in the very long-term, data can be read with extremely high accuracy. For data confidentiality the M5Pro

supports full drive encryp-tion with an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256 bit algorithm using its US Government AES-val-idated Marvell 88SS9187

controller.Commenting on the

Occasion, Mehul Kagal-wala, country director, PLDS, “Plextor’s goal is to create SSD products that

achieve best-in-class per-formance in realistic tests, SSD drives that are efficient in every application, and that run at sustained speeds for their entire lifetime.

targus makes backpacks more affordable for indian Consumers

Keeping in with the local demand and expectations, targus through rashi Peripherals have launched affordable

backpacks designed for indian consumer

dQW neWs bureauMumbai, March 25

Targus, world leader in Backpacks & IT accessories is one

of the trusted brands and operates in 150 countries around the world. Even in India Targus is considered as the leading brand with range varying from Backpacks, accessories, ipad & other tablet cases and iPhone cases.

Keeping in with the local demand and expec-tations, Targus through Rashi Peripherals have launched affordable back-packs designed for Indian consumer. Currently two backpacks of 16” with all the major features are just right for India. These back-packs range offers Tar-gus Quality . This comes with limited lifetime war-ranty which is icing on the cake.

Manish Aher, country manager, Targus India said “First time ever, we have introduced economi-

cal Targus backpack with the same innovation and toughness Targus is known for. Both the backpacks are constructed for durabil-ity, and have water and stain-resistance polyester.

Absolute no compromise in color, material and feature (CMF) at all, and just to make sure we deliver the same Targus experience”

Rajesh Goenka, VP- Sales & Marketing, Rashi Peripherals said “With this new range Targus now has the widest offering in the industry. There is a prod-uct for every usage. This will help us to develop and open new market seg-ments and would boost great business opportunity not only for us but also our partners.

rajesh goenka, VP- sales & Marketing, rashi Peripherals

Zebronics introduces External Power BankdQW neWs bureau

Mumbai, March 25

ZE B R O N I C S h a s i n t r o d u c e d i t s ‘Power Grid” line

of mobile external power banks to meet the power charging needs of today’s mobile lifestyles. Most of us carry several portable devices—the ubiquitous phone, PDAs, personal media players, tablets and laptops. If one of these runs out of battery charge when it is not convenient to find a power source for re-charging, the Zebronics Power Grid comes in handy. Moreover mobile gadgets aren’t so mobile if you have to carry several chargers. One convenient power source for most devices, the Zebronics Power Grid is powerful enough to charge two tablets or devices simultaneously, and works with a variety of smartphones and small devices powered via micro/mini USB connection.

Available in three vari-

ants - ZEB-PG2400 (8,88 wH, 2400 mAH), ZEB-PG4800 (18wH, 4800 mAH)

and ZEB-PG7200 (26.6 wH, 7200 mAH), the Zebronics Power Grid comes bundled with Micro USB and Mini USB connectors and all the accessory cables enabling users to connect and charge their digital devices such as phones, laptops, tablets, media players or gaming devices. The ZEB-PG2400 model integrates an LED torch as an additional fea-ture while the ZEB-PG4800 and ZEB-PG7200 models are available with dual out-put of 1000mA and 2100mA respectively. A handy, graded LED indicator tells you when you need to re-

charge the power bank.“You can take the Power

Grid with you on a trip, to listen to songs, make calls or play unlimited games without the fear of running out of battery on the move. You can also charge your camera to continue taking photos. Best of all, the com-pact device easily slips into a pocket or bag, eliminat-ing the need for multiple chargers. A nifty and use-ful lifestyle accessory that every user will soon find indispensable.” said Rajesh Doshi, Purchase & Market-ing Director of Top Notch Infotronix.

PeriPherals neWs

raPoo launches ultra-slim bluetooth

keyboard e6100dQW neWs bureauNew Delhi, March 26

RAPOO, global leaders in providing cutting-

edge wireless peripheral products, launched E6100 - ultra-thin Bluetooth keyboard with wireless connectivity of up to 10m distance. E6100 keyboard connects with the advanced Bluetooth 3.0 technology and does not require any wire or receiver. Apart from notebooks and desktops E6100 is also compatible with all generation gadgets wirelessly, like iPad, iPhone, and many Android devices.

Key Features:

• 5.6mm at thinnest, compact and space-saving design with scissor key structure and stainless steel base plate.

• Work with all gen-

erations of Windows, Mac, iPad, iPad2, iPad3, iPhone and many Android devices.

• Compact Size 288mm * 110mm (L*W).

• Up to 10 meters wire-less range with Bluetooth 3.0 technology.

Sunil Srivastava, India Sales & Marketing Manager at RAPOO India said, "We have seen customers strug-gling with any of the latest touch screen technologies, if they have to type long documents. They usually tend to get back to their laptops and desktops. With E6100 keyboard any one can just switch on the Blu-etooth of the device and instantly get started with their work. It's a compact, slim and eye catching key-board which customer can choose to carry it along within their bag."

P C P e r i P h e r a l s & a C C e s s o r i e swww.dqweek.comMarch 25-31, 2013

The DQ Week 7

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n e w s March 25-31, 2013The DQ Week8 P C P e r i P h e r a l s & a C C e s s o r i e s