Wednesday, February 15th 2012
European Buyers Not Appealed by Ultrabook
Intel went to the market with its first-generation Ultrabook platform hoping that by the end of 2012, Ultrabooks would make up as high as 40% of all notebook sales. Notebook vendors like Acer relayed a slightly more realistic 25-35% figure in mind. Alas, the two will have to rethink their expectations, as notebook vendors are lowering it to 20%, thanks to the reception Ultrabooks got in Europe. The old continent constitutes a large and mature market for notebook sales, but Ultrabooks so far aren't appealing to European buyers.
This statement is backed by the latest sales data. According to this data, European consumers prefer 15-inch (or bigger) conventional notebooks. 15-inch notebooks constitute 40-45% of global notebook sales. There were no 15-inch Ultrabooks. 30-40% of global notebook sales comprise of 14-inch models. There is a 14-inch Ultrabook, HP's Envy 14 Spectre, but it is priced as high as US $1,399. Ultrabooks have so far been launched to test market response and if vendors want to increase sales, they have to lower prices from US$1,000 to US$699, the sources in the notebook industry supply chains point out.
Source:
DigiTimes
This statement is backed by the latest sales data. According to this data, European consumers prefer 15-inch (or bigger) conventional notebooks. 15-inch notebooks constitute 40-45% of global notebook sales. There were no 15-inch Ultrabooks. 30-40% of global notebook sales comprise of 14-inch models. There is a 14-inch Ultrabook, HP's Envy 14 Spectre, but it is priced as high as US $1,399. Ultrabooks have so far been launched to test market response and if vendors want to increase sales, they have to lower prices from US$1,000 to US$699, the sources in the notebook industry supply chains point out.
9 Comments on European Buyers Not Appealed by Ultrabook
I do wish they'd sell better though. Would be a fantastic way to drop SSD prices.
And a quick way for Apple to make a few more billion? Macbook Air for Windows. Take the 13" model with the SD card slot. Improve the screen quality to non-gloss IPS with PC compatible keyboard. Sell it with Windows. Radical. Yes, you can in theory "bootcamp" but 95% of laptop buyers cannot cope with this... far too difficult and technical. (Obviously this can't cope comment is not targeted at any TPU members!)
People are ready to pay premium for iPhone, iPad, etc. I believe there is a huge market for iAir for Windows. There are very few if any notebooks/ultrabooks that beat the Air for design, form factor, and even performance. If they preinstalled with Windows (with bootcamp to iOS, ie in reverse), they might even get people to migrate from Windows to iOS...
Now that Jobs is gone, this concept isn't as impossible-never-on-a-month-sundays as before.
I'd get one. In fact I'd put on my black poloneck and walk straight into a iStore with a fistfull of dollars. Tomorrow.
I'd rather have a Chromebook equivalent to the Macbook Air. I'm very interested to see Acer's S3. Looks schweet!
Chromebooks look great EXCEPT for the missing keys ontheir keyboards making the installation and use of Windows on a Chromebook particularly difficult for practical use.Nice except for WXGA screen which is very poor for 13" IMO. An ultrabook needs a 900 or 1050 or 1080 in the y
1. Too expensive. Thin + light is nice, but the extra cost makes it not worth it as you can get a comparable spec laptop for £300 whereas the cheapest ultrabook is £700 - more than twice as much for a thinner machine.
2. screen resolutions - the screen resolutions are really rubbish, and the biggest the screens get aren't great either. Personally I'm waiting for a 13-14" model with a decent screen resolution.