Putra Jaya Komputer (PJK)

Mon, 08/25/2008 11:18 AM Sci-Tech
If you wonder why I have been reviewing so many notebooks lately, it's because notebook vendors have been upbeat about the Indonesian market and aggressive in promoting their products here.
Their highly positive outlook conforms to International Data Corporation (IDC)'s report I received last week. The IDC says that the shipment of PC microchips reached record levels in the second quarter of 2008. Intel drove the growth with a market share of almost 80 percent. The company particularly dominated the mobile PC processor segment by achieving a market share of 86.5 percent.
Desktop computers are still selling well in the country, but notebooks are now becoming the first choice thanks to lower prices. As quoted by Bisnis Indonesia on Aug 21, Intel's country manager for Indonesia Budi Wahyu Jati said that in Indonesia the sales of notebooks had already surpassed the sales of desktop PCs.
Vendor enthusiasm is also seen in the amount of ads placed in major local newspapers. Take a look at any Indonesian newspaper and you will see notebook product advertisements from various vendors.
These days, it is also far easier for me to get a demo unit than it was before. In a lot of cases, I don't even have to request a loan of the demo unit, as the vendors themselves offer me the opportunity to review their products for two to three weeks.
In fact, I sometimes have to politely decline offers because the models they are about to let me try out are too ordinary or have too many weaknesses.
Further proof of the PC vendors' strong confidence in the Indonesian market is perhaps the scale of their presence in the country. Lenovo and Dell are just two among the newcomers in Indonesia, while the incumbents include companies such as Acer, Asus, Fujitsu, HP, NEC, Sony and Toshiba.
Lenovo has a rep office in Wisma BNI, in the same prestigious building as Acer Indonesia. Earlier this month, Dell inaugurated what it called a "Liaison Office" in the newly built Grand Indonesia Menara BCA.
"To us, the emerging markets are the BRIC+10," said Steve Felice, President, Dell Asia Pacific and Japan, during an interview at the launch of the new office.
"BRIC+10" stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China plus ten Asian countries.
The uniqueness of Dell's new office in Jakarta is that it handles sales in the region -- including the Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
"Indonesia ranks very high in the list of the ten emerging markets for Dell," Felice said.
I then asked Megawati Khie, Dell's country manager for Indonesia, how much the infrastructure or the lack thereof posed a challenge to her daily operation.
She confidently replied: "Like most things in life, you can look at a glass and say it is half empty or half full. Similarly, our infrastructure can be regarded as poor or as 'under construction', depending on how you want to look at it," she added.
Although not developing as fast as we would like to see, the country's ICT infrastructure is indeed improving.
There are several local notebook brands that are also gaining traction in the market, including Zyrex and Ion.
If these brands continue to innovate and address the needs of the masses, they just might survive.
The current PC penetration level in the country is estimated to be at the 30-percent mark. This means there is still a lot of room to grow. - JP/Zatni Arbi