Notebooks

IBM wins yet again, followed by HP at second place. Dell wrests third spot from Toshiba.

The notebook market is fast growing and many brands have been launched this last year. So, one would have expected a crowding of brands at the top; instead, what we have is IBM consolidating its position, Wipro dropping off the Users' Choice Club and Acer narrowly missing making it to the select group.

When it comes to brand loyalty, the picture is more or less similar to last year's. IBM retains its position at the top of the brand-loyalty chart and the only significant change is the drop in brand loyalty of Toshiba from 76 percent last year to 52 percent this year. This is what cost it the third position. Toshiba would lose about a third of its current customers to IBM and a tenth to HP. The brand does not stand to make any significant gains from the others in the fray. IBM would also make significant gains from those currently using brands that did not make it to the Users' Choice Club. On the flip side, IBM faces its biggest threat from HP, which stands to wean 11 percent of IBM owners. HP would loose 15 percent of its customers to IBM.

Other than the Toshiba-to-IBM shift, when compared to the brand-switch matrix of last year, the biggest change this year is that Dell is likely to lose more users to HP than to IBM this year. This is the opposite of the picture last year.

Of particular interest is the 'Others' row in the brand-switch matrix. This represents possible shifts from the brands with lesser purchaser mind share to the leading brands. In a rapidly growing market, this one could hide the joker in the pack. We see a major increase in the shift towards IBM; 24 percent this year as against just 6 percent the year before. This leads us to predict that IBM is comfortably placed to retain the title next year also.

2003