KOLKATA: With Microsoft commercially rolling out its latest bet – the much-awaited Windows 7 operating system – leading vendors feel this will trigger a huge revival of the PC market.
Small wonder, Hewlett-Packard (HP), HCL, Samsung, Dell and Acer are getting their act together for this latest platform. For starters, vendors have decided that all forthcoming launches will either be bundled with Windows 7 or be Windows 7 compliant.
Microsoft also believes that more than 100 different Windows 7 PCs will be launched in India over the next one month.
“The Indian market is already seeing early signs of revival and the launch of Windows 7 will create more excitement among consumers. By the end of the year, we will have eight netbook and notebook models on this platform,” Samsung India director (IT and telecom) Ranjit Yadav said.
According to last published data compiled by IDC, the Indian PC market grew by 5.2% during April-June quarter, a degrowth of 15% compared to last year. PC vendors, however, claim the market has significantly improved. Windows 7 is expected to lend a bigger push to sales.
Samsung has drawn a two-pronged strategy — while for netbooks it will continue with both Windows XP and Windows 7, in case of notebooks, it will completely migrate to Windows 7. Dell, too, has outlined a pipeline of 80 models that will be powered with Windows 7. HP, however, will continue with all the versions of Windows.
“Windows 7, due to its inherent features will help bring touch-based PCs into the mainstream. We already have a few touch products and will now expand this portfolio. HP believes that touch PCs will become a critical factor for the growth of the market,” HP India president (personal systems group) Ravi Swaminathan told ET. Domestic PC maker HCL timed the launch of its ‘ME series’ of laptops with that of Windows 7. “There is huge synergy since both Windows 7 and our new laptop range has been designed to appeal to GenNext,” said HCL Infosystems executive VP (marketing) George Paul.
Mr Paul feels since Windows 7 will be able to support programmes originally designed for the Windows XP platform, it will trigger faster enterprise adoption. “Windows Vista enterprise users will also be able to upgrade their PCs to Windows 7 at no additional cost,” he said.
Analysts, however, feel the pace of enterprise adoption will be relatively slower. Said IDC India lead PC analyst Sumanta Mukherjee: “While adoption of Windows 7 among consumers is expected to be reasonably quicker, enterprises may wait a little longer before going for a complete Windows overhaul. However, Windows 7 is expected to be much better received by the market, as compared to its predecessor Windows Vista.”
Microsoft, on its part, confirmed that more than 1,000 enterprises in India are currently deploying Windows 7, including Infosys, Maruti, Wipro, Big Cinemas, Biocon, MindTree, NIIT, L&T ECC and GMR Infrastructure, among others. Some companies like Dell have also unveiled consulting, management and support services designed to help organisations migrate to the Windows 7 operating system.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
