“The PC market rose by more than 10% in the first quarter and surprisingly its growth was double-digit again in the second,” Aurel Netin, country manager of Lenovo Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova, the leader of global and local PC market, told ZF.
“It seems people realized the tablet is not a PC and now they are two different topics. PCs continue to be purchased and tablets have their own use. This is a worldwide conclusion,” Netin explained.
The PC market dropped 8% to 630,000 units in Romania last year, while the tablet sales tripled to more than 500,000 units compared with 2012.
“Two quarters of double-digit growth mean a rebound of the PC market.”
Lenovo plans for growth on the tablet market, as well, considering its strategy is to become world leader in the industry in the next couple of years. Lenovo’s current target is 10% of the local tablet market in the fiscal year, which means it has eight months left to do it.
“We are trying hard to gain market share on the local tablet segment. Competition is very fierce because of the very many powerful local players and unfortunately it’s a price competition here,” Lenovo official said.
Local tablet companies account for about half of the Romanian market. They mostly sell more affordable products than foreign manufacturers, as prices start from as little as 200 lei (EUR45). The local brands include Allview, Evolio, E-Boda, Utok and Serioux.
“The local tablet market is heavily fragmented, it’s hard to say there’s a leader by number of units sold,” Netin added.
Lenovo also sells the so-called ‘convertibles’ – devices that can be used as laptops and tablets, whose sales on the consumer have started to increase.
“Convertibles currently account for 10% to 20% of the Lenovo consumer product portfolio available locally,” Lenovo’s country manager said.
The Chinese manufacturer also plans to finally launch its smartphone range in Southeastern Europe, including Romania, after having previously announced it would do it in April.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)