Ultrabooks’ fate down to price

Jan. 25, 2012 - PRLog -- London – According to latest reports by IT market researchers CONTEXT, Acer is currently leading the way as strongest player in the market for Ultrabooks with a share of 62% of sales through Western European distribution in the last quarter (Q4/11) followed by Toshiba, Asus and Lenovo.

While ultrabooks were a much discussed topic at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas earlier this month and Intel remains optimistic that 40% of the consumer laptop market segment will be Ultrabooks by the end of this year, price continues to be a key factor inhibiting buying decisions amongst consumers.

CONTEXT notes a general perception that these devices are still too expensive to make a big market impact with average selling price through distribution in Q4 last year at 670 Euros, compared to 410 Euros for traditional consumer notebooks and 197 for netbooks.

“Ultrabooks were launched in a market characterized by strong economic constraints and very tight consumer wallets”, said Marie-Christine Pygott, senior analyst at CONTEXT. “With traditional notebook pricing decreasing even further year on year, those consumers who are buying notebooks over tablet PCs, are still doing so with price points in mind, rather than a focus on weight and battery life.”

The analysts are expecting pricing for Ultrabooks to come down during the course of the year, notably with the arrival of Intel’s next-generation Ivy Bridge platform. Price decreases are also expected to be fuelled by competitive offerings from companies such as AMD, who outlined its competitive platform codenamed ‘Ultrathin’ at CES. Rumours are that products based on this will be launched around June time and prices are said to be around USD 500.

“Once competition heats up in this market and prices come down further, Ultrabooks stand a good chance in selling in greater numbers”, added Pygott.  “However, as long as the price point is higher than for example that of an iPad, consumers are more likely to choose a tablet PC or cheap, traditional notebook, particularly if the current economic pressures persist.”

About Context
The Context Distribution Panel records over two billion euros per week in technology product sales to resellers serving businesses and consumers across Europe, based on sales reports from over eighty of the region's leading national and international broadline and specialist distributors. This Panel benefits from exclusive access to EMEA data from the Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC), a international consortium of the IT industry’s leading wholesale distributors. This, coupled with the Panel's strong local representation, provides the most comprehensive and accurate reporting of channel sales out data in Europe.