ME Notebook Market Set to Grow Sixfold

Quoting a forecast made by IDC, Madhav Narayan, General Manager of the IT Division at Samsung Gulf Electronics, said despite the current market turmoil, the region was on track to post 15 per cent growth this year and 30 per cent in 2009 to reach three million and four million units respectively.

Narayan, speaking to Khaleej Times after announcing plans to launch Samsung notebooks in the Middle East for the first time, said total notebook shipments for the UAE would 1.1 million units in 2008, a growth of nearly 93 per cent. “This reflects the massive lead laptop sales have over desktops in the region with four out of every five shipments being laptops.” Saudi Arabia accounted for at least 40 per cent of IT spending in the Middle East region last year

The worldwide laptop market has grown from 25 per cent in 2003 to 48 per cent this year, and is expected to increase to 59 per cent in 2011.

Narayan said with the introduction of notebooks in December, Samsung would be able to offer a complete and comprehensive consumer technology product line up with innovative designs and advanced technology. Samsung plans a phased roll out starting with the UAE and Saudi Arabia, followed by other Middle Eastern countries next year. The Middle Eastern launch follows the recent launch of the notebooks in the USA, the UK, France, Germany, Russia, China and Hong Kong.

“Samsung has been selling notebooks in Korea since 1995, a market where it commands a whopping 40 per cent share in the notebook space,” said Narayan. “With this depth of experience we are aiming to capture a considerable share of the total notebook market in the UAE and KSA by the end of 2009,” he added.

He said Samsung would appoint a distributor for the notebook range by the end of this month. “We are very confident that our entry into the UAE and KSA markets will be met with positive consumer feedback and demand. Samsung is a committed investor in R&D, which enables us to offer notebooks that fuse extensive functionality and performance with world class design that meet consumer needs and requirements. When you look at the Samsung notebook range, you will find that 60 percent of the components are manufactured by the company itself. This means that Samsung notebooks have one of the best reliability records in the industry thus lowering the total cost of ownership,” said Narayan.

issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com