Year | Winner |
2000 | Assembled |
1999 | Compaq |
1998 | Compaq |
1997 | Compaq |
1996 | Wipro-Acer |
Assembled or branded? That was the hottest question coming
from decision makers and single users throughout the year. It’s a tough
question to answer, particularly because prices for branded PCs have also been
very competitive this year. Over the years, we have been seeing the local
assembler making strides towards the top of the UPI chart. Last year, it was at
number two, just 20 points behind the winner Compaq. This year, the survey has
finally highlighted that the most-preferred choice for establishments and
households combined is none other but the assembled PC.
Office PCs |
|
User's Choice Club | UPI |
Assembled | 100 |
Wipro | 53 |
Compaq | 28 |
HCL | 20 |
HP | 20 |
IBM | 20 |
As a locally assembled PC isn’t a brand, the winner this
year is therefore the next most preferred on the UPI charts. Wipro that was
sixth in last year’s rankings has emerged as the most preferred branded PC,
and thus the winner. Compaq, which had been the winner for the past three years,
has dropped down to the runner up position.
Wipro drew its support mostly from the South and western
regions. Support for the brand was reported pretty low in North, so it needs
some heavy-duty marketing there. Compaq, on the other hand, drew consistent
support from across the country. Wipro and HCL showed a nearly equal installed
base followed by Compaq.
The PC segment has always been full of action, with faster
and newer processors, changing motherboard designs, etc. This year was no
different, except that some changes were significant. The MHz gave way to GHz,
marking the start of a new genre of processors. AMD was more visible this year
with its powerful Athlon processor pitted against Intel’s Pentium III, and
later it also introduced the Duron processor against Intel’s Celeron. All
these processors are available in a multitude of speeds, FSB support, causing
the motherboard design to change accordingly. Due to so much change, the life of
branded models has really become short, to the order of three months. You may
buy a model today, only to find it obsolete three months later.
The most important criterion for choosing an office PC was
not price, but quality. Given the dynamic market with new components popping up
everyday, this seems logical. The next criterion reported for choosing an office
PC was service and support.
With assembled office PCs getting the top position, and an Indian PC brand as
the next choice, it would be interesting to see what MNC brands will do. We’ll
assemble next year to tell you the results.