Office PCs

We have an interesting situation here. Assembled PCs have moved out of the

race for the office desktop. They were at the edge last year, but this year,

they're completely out. The remaining four brands remain the same as last

year-HP, IBM/Lenovo, Dell, and HCL. At an overall level, the brand persuasion

levels of all these brands remains unchanged over last year, and it's not on the

positive side, i.e. they're still not persuasive enough. There are more users

having top of mind recall for these brands, but lesser number who're likely to

purchase them. The brand pull situation is again more or less the same as last

year, with half of the players gaining pull and the other half losing it.

Coming to individual brands, HP-Compaq is the most persuasive brand of the

lot, making it the winner of this year's Users' Choice awards. The brand is well

ahead of all its competitors. It's the second most persuasive brand on a

relative scale, and third on the brand pull scale. Another point of concern in

brand pull for HP is that there are more user switch outs happening than switch

ins, which is not a healthy situation to be in. It enjoys 62% brand loyalty, and

21% of its existing users are likely to switch to other brands, and mostly to

IBM.

IBM/Lenovo's future readiness score is 61%, and in fact it has moved up one

notch and swapped places with Dell. Wo while it lost out to Dell for the second

spot in notebooks, here it has evened the score by moving ahead of Dell. IBM/Lenovo

is also the most persuasive brand of the lot on a relative scale, and also the

brand with the second highest pull. It enjoys 60% brand loyalty, with 16% of its

existing users saying they're likely to shift to another brand, which is mostly

HP.

Dell enjoys a rating of 34% on the future readiness index, and has lost speed

as compared to last year, which has brought it to the third spot. It's also the

third most persuasive brand. So while its speed and persuasion might have gone

down, its brand pull situation is the best of the lot. While IBM and HP are

loosing brand pull, Dell is gaining pull, meaning there are more users switching

into the brand than switching out. Dell enjoys the maximum brand loyalty among

its customers at a whopping 76%.

Last in the future readiness club is HCL with a score of 14%. HCL's brand

persuasion is the lowest of the lot, and ditto for brand pull figures as well.

In fact, the brand pull figures are a concern because there are more users

likely to switch out than switch in. Last year, it was gaining brand pull, but

this year it's started to loose pull. The brand loyalty figures of HCL aren't

too healthy either at 40%. 50% of its existing users said that they're likely to

shift to other brands, mostly HP and IBM/Lenovo. We hope it will pick up speed

to remain in the club next year.