Fading Digital Divide !

Just imagine you are in the middle of writing an important mail when your laptop gives you a message virus attack and it crashes. You try to seek help from your cell phone (which is usually a smart phone with email and chat capabilities) and you find that your mobile phone battery is dying. You turn on your LCD TV placed right at the center of your living room to watch your favorite cricket match and there's no signal because of bad weather. What would you do? You feel so dejected! God forbid if somebody has to face this today. I am not trying to scare my readers but what I am trying to say is that today we are surrounded by gadgets which have become important for our existence like Air, Water and Food.

Actually, today the three basic needs of Man has increased to five. After Food, Clothing comes mobile phone, Laptop/ Desktop instead of Shelter. Why I say this because before we even plan to buy a 1 BHK we own a smartphone and a laptop and sometimes a Car too. We can stay in a rented house but can't afford to live without a mobile phone with internet connection enabling instant messengers, email configurations and connectivity through social networking sites.

Any gadget that is an extension of one's personal life that attempts to embody the values and aspirations in him can be termed as a lifestyle product. Lifestyle products reflect an individual's attitude, values, and identity. Today IT products have become more and more user friendly and an important part of one's daily lifestyle. Consumers no longer accept a compromise between design and performance- Features are a must-have, but in a beautiful design and stunning form factors. Consumers also look at the value of the technology being offered for the price paid and our products cater to their needs.

IT Vs Lifestyle: Fading battle

Today, the transformation to a world of devices connected to online services is well underway.  We Bing, We tweet, We Skype, We post, We tag, but to smoothen this transit to this always-on world of software and services, of computing devices of all sizes and shapes, it has become imperative for the IT and CE vendors to focus on delivering their customers any information, on any device, anywhere in the world.  

The lifestyle IT industry has gained its pace in the last few years. India's lifestyle IT market size has enormous potential to become a major player in the global front attributing to the fact of growing popularity of technology oriented lifestyle. Seeing this, PC vendors are constantly revamping their product categories to offer the best to consumers. Consumers are more inclined towards multi purpose gadgets that seamlessly integrate with their lifestyle. Hence, product innovation is the mantra. 

Khalid Wani, Sales Director - Branded Business, WD for India, Middle East, & Africa, describes, “According to me a digital lifestyle product is one that takes the best features of PC, mobile, TV, video and internet technologies and services and offers them to consumers in an uncomplicated and user-friendly package.”

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Ernest Sim, Regional Sales Manager, Indian Subcontinent - Creative, said, “Consumer electronics have witnessed phenomenal growth during the last few years. A survey by FICCI revealed a discernable shift among Indian consumers towards technologically advanced branded electronics. This is a result of changing lifestyles and higher disposable incomes, coupled with impactful advertising.

The outlook towards the digital segment has changed significantly after the launch of tablets and smartphones. We can now access the internet to download or stream huge selections of media and games freely without being bound to a desktop or notebook. This has led to a large acceptance of wireless audio peripherals like wireless speakers and headphones, to bring personal entertainment beyond the confines of a single room to the whole house. 

Considering the product categories they operate in, Ram Prasad, Deputy General Manager, Consumer Product Group, Epson India opines that smaller printers, better inks, innovations in design, 3D projection, ultra portable projectors, docking projectors etc are all recent lifestyle related trends. For Epson growth has been in the range of 30- 40% for the Life Style Range of Products and in certain category like Home Entertainment Products growth has been almost like 100%. “We expect our growth projection for the current year as well to be in the range of 30 - 40% over the current year,” he further adds.

Sleek is In

All the vendors agree that customers are always on the lookout for sleeker, convenient and stylish products so the demand is expected to continue going forward. And this is well proven by the fact that we see rise in the size of the products shrinking from Desktop to Laptop to Netbook to Tablet. Another trend unequivocally linked to this is a move towards light-weight options in order to enhance mobility.A common trend across all categories of lifestyle products is the innovation in form factor. This can be observed across all lifestyle products such as smart phones, projectors, desktops, laptops, external storage drives. Seiji Hamanishi, Assistant Director, ICP Division, Canon India shares that Canon has a variety of offerings that fall under the Lifestyle category. The most important of them is the IXUS range of digital cameras. “We, at Canon define the range as 'Style meets substance'. Canon's sleekest and smallest camera range, the IXUS is a compact, lightweight and easy-to-use companion one can carry from place to place - it can even fit into the pocket.”

To this Rajesh Thadani, Director, Consumer Business Segment, Lenovo India added that their target customers comprise of young working professionals, who look for nothing but the best. They are customers who want style with substance and for them performance matters the most. “We are particularly focusing on the youngsters between the age group of 18-26, who prefer portable, power-packed PCs which can even be used to work on-the-go.”

Digital home

A relatively new innovation, digital home enables easy and effective communication between digital devices to integrate various content services such as music, pictures, games and movies, letting the members of a house share these resources anytime and anywhere in the house. This includes devices for networking, entertainment, network attached storage and home monitoring camera.

There are certain technologies and innovations that have aided the digital lifestyle segment by enhancing the utility and features of the products. However, the most important innovations have been brought about by smart convergence of hardware and software with online services, user-generated content and open standards or platforms (such as Android). Such convergence has given rise to the 'connected homes' and 'personal cloud' segments. A few existing personal cloud services have found a large customer base that is mostly made up of professional users. However, owing to security concerns they haven't tapped the mainstream market yet. On the other hand, new products such as the WD My Book Live Personal Cloud Storage that store content in a HDD rather than some mysterious remote location have found quick adoption. Again, adoption of such personal cloud devices is being driven largely by smartphone or tablet users.

Digital home is also about organizing, simplifying, and integrating a consumer's digital content, entertainment, and communication.

One for All

Also we also see the emergence of all-in-ones giving a new lease of life to desktops. A great example can - the laptops are getting slimmer, and at the same time are packed with performance. Another killing feature that vendors are adding to lifestyle products has been extended charge life of the batteries. Thin and powerful computing will continue to be a focus area as vendors enhance their lifestyle portfolio.

Today IT products have become more and more user friendly and an important part of one's daily lifestyle. Consumers no longer accept a compromise between design and performance- Features are a must-have, but in a beautiful design and stunning form factors. Consumers also look at the value of the technology being offered for the price paid and our products cater to their needs. Thus, technological innovations in these categories are fast paced and are developed to meet the changing customer demand and trends. Today's requirement can be summed as Products with a perfect blend and a balance between technology, aesthetics and convenience. 

Laptops have established their own niche market over the years despite other mobile devices. Next, the emergence of the Ultrabook is definitely on the cards and all laptop makers need to take cognizance of this fact.

HCL Infosystems also has been at the forefront of bringing in many innovations in the laptop market to meet customer expectations. “Our innovations are both product and marketing focussed. Also providing better service to the customers is a prime concern. In our laptops we have the HCL Touch Button, which is an inbuilt service button, which helps the owner to connect with the 24x7 HCL service team,” informs Princy Bhatnagar, Vice President, Head-Consumer Computing, HCL Infosystems. Then there is the HCL EC2 button which can help in recovering the system from any unforeseen crash or data loss by using a special technology to take snapshots of the system and store them in an ultra-efficient manner to help the owner recover the system later.r

Also HCL Me Laptops also comes with an Eco-mode button to enhance Battery life, special productivity enhancement software's like Secure Me, Split ME, Encrypt ME and Lock ME which delivers a secure and reliable performance. 

Krishnadeep Baruah - Director Marketing, India for Research In Motion (RIM), “At RIM, we revolutionized how people communicate while on the move with the iconic BlackBerry smartphone over a decade ago and today BlackBerry is an aspirational brand loved by millions globally.” The BlackBerry smartphone portfolio caters to customer's different tastes and preferences hence come in various size, keyboard layout (full QWERTY, SureType or touchscreen), colors etc. 

As shared by Microsoft, they have sold more than 66 million Xbox 360 consoles across 38 countries. And, globally, Kinect has sold a whopping 18 million sensors since its launch. The nearly 40 million members of Xbox LIVE around the world each average almost 60 hours per month on the service. On the other hand, the Budget Entry level Home entertainment Combo projector from Epson with built in Speakers & DVD Player and the projector with Apple device docking to view content from iPads, iPhones and iPods are classic examples of one device with many innovative inbuilt features. Yet to be launched in India the elite new Porsche Design Bold P'9981 smartphone in collaboration with RIM is a marriage between Style and need. 

Shishir Singh, Director, Product Marketing, CSMB, Dell India, “We will soon be entering the ultrabook category with the globally launched XPS 13; which is a culmination of an extensive design and development process focused on creating one of the best Ultrabooks available. It is specifically engineered to help both our consumer and commercial customers to be more productive and connected in every possible way.”

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Xerox one of the market leader in the space of digital printing in India offers the broadest array of offerings of products, services and solutions that give our customers the freedom to focus on what matters most - their real business. Pankaj Kalra, Head, Graphic Communications Business, Xerox India says, “Xerox has transformed to provide expert consulting to its clients according to their printing requirements. Also, in addition customization is the key to any campaign's success.”

Seasonal in nature?

The festive season brings with it high spirits and many reasons to rejoice. Undoubtedly festive season is the time when we see a noticeable increase in the sales because of many planned and unplanned shoppings. By introducing schemes and offers, vendors only aim at adding to the existing festivity of the festival. 

Tadato Kimura, General Manager, Marketing, Sony India, shares, “Sony India comes with many innovative promotional offers during the festive season. Last year from September to October we had come up with innovative consumer promotion offers across categories including BRAVIA, Cyber-shot, Handycam and Home Theatre System.”

Blackberry saw their newly launched PlayBook as the most sorted gifting option to friends and family during the recent festive season, which was further flared by their limited festive season offer. They extend this limited festive offer to the 64 GB version of PlayBook till stocks last seeing the success rate.

Dell feels that though customers buy these products all the year round. Thus, they announce promotions from time to time and not necessarily limit themselves to Festive Season. To this Atindriya Bose, Country Manager- PlayStation, Sony Computer Entertainment adds an interesting perspective. He says, “The sales of games which is a hit amongst the teenagers and the youths, increase during vacations be it summer, autumn or winter breaks. This is complemented by usual festive shopping.” 

Profiting Channel

Saji Kumar, Director - Product Management, Acer India shares, “Acer product range is meant for anyone willing to indulge in stylish and sleek products at mainstream price points without compromising on the technology. While the youth contributes to a large part of the population, business professionals who are constantly on the move are also amongst our key target audience. We are definitely witnessing the trend emerging from B & C class cities.”

RIM is present in all metros and other smaller towns also through its channel partners. They are available in LFR like Croma, Vijay Sales etc. They have presence in over 80 cities and are keen to tap the burgeoning demand for smartphones in these cities as have plans to expand to further parts of the nation and double our presence.Seiji Hamanishi, added, “The Indian market is looking optimistic with a bright future projected. The addressable market for compact cameras is about 4.5 million units for year 2012. Looking at the DSLR segment, the addressable market for DSLRs is about 240,000 units.” Also, with the spending power at their disposal today, the youth segment is expected to drive the consumer boom in India. Canon plans to build on its digital photo leadership by encouraging this Generation X to make a lifestyle statement with digital cameras. 

Besides expansion plans vendors are focused on assuring that their partners can earn good margins. Partners stand to gain as they can make higher margins on lifestyle products when compared to other commercial products. Industry claims that the adoption rates are very high in the homes with Small Kids as they are fast to learn & use the latest technologies. For, a product like camera the target audience is every household across the country. So there is no particular town but the entire country is the target audience FUJIFIL India claims. A Rajkumar, Executive Vice President (EVP), FUJIFILM India, “We already have a strong presence in Tier II & III cities and are making efforts to build up the same in Tier IV cities as well.”  

Road ahead

One should not expect everything to be nice and good. Thus, Ajay Sharma, Country Head - India, ViewSonic Technologies India Pvt Ltd. brings to light one market challenge. Since high price is a defining factor of most Lifestyle IT products (LIPs), the target buyer is the premier segment of consumers, usually the upper middle-class and above. “The consumers in the metro markets have exposure to elitist lifestyle. They understand the importance of convergence of IT with lifestyle.” But, a few others beg to differ, who feel that the market for LIPs goes well beyond metros. There is a growing demand for LIPs like netbooks and pocket projectors in class B&C towns in India. 

To be the winners, channel partners should continue to keep one-self updated on latest trends and offer customer TCO in terms of long term products. Investment in products with high quality & branding complemented by tie-up with vendors who have excellent post-sales network, would give them edge over others. The positive growth that India is heading to is a good news in itself for the channel community and the Indian consumers both.

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Suraj Goyal, CEO, Printbindaas.com 
(Xerox's Mumbai-based Partner)

Printbindaas.com is an e-commerce start-up that uses Web-to-Print technology. The portal allows users to design their own stationery and marketing collateral such as visiting cards, envelopes, flyers and brochures by making use of the hosted online templates. Customers can also upload their own logos, pictures on the templates and even upload complete designs. The printed products get delivered to the users within 4 to 7 days after placing the order.

From SMBs and professionals to corporate users, it appeals to all. We receive orders right from Jammu and Srinagar in the North to small towns in Orissa and West Bengal in the East. Internet has no boundaries and there are a lot of small towns which do not have good printers but Internet has already reached these places and our solution offers a great potential in these towns.

We want to catch people at the right event in their life like New Year, Diwali, birthdays or new company registration. Some of the examples of these campaigns are:

*  Discount on desktop calendar during the New Year

*  Photo calendar campaigns

*  Discount on bulk purchase of stationery