NEW DELHI, April 6: Cocking a snook in the face of computer biggies, Zenith Computers Ltd has dropped a bombshell on the Indian PC market with the launch of a multimedia computer with a lowest-ever price tag of Rs 35,500 in the organised sector.CEO Raj Saraf expects to achieve sales of nearly 10,000 units in the next two months. He said that with the launch of `Zenith Home PC', his company has posed a direct challenge to both the grey market and branded players like HCL, Compaq, Wipro and Digital.
It may be recalled that Compaq had triggered a major price war with the launch of its Deskpro 1000 model. Priced at Rs 39,900, however, a buyer would have to pay extra for a monitor.
Earlier, market leader HCL had responded ferociously with aggressive marketing. The company also started a full-scale advertising war claiming that Compaq had violated ethics by issuing misleading advertisements.
Zenith has now raised the stakes considerably with the "Home PC" undercutting Compaq's price by Rs 4400. Inaddition, the company has thrown in a colour monitor along with other features.
According to a Moradabad-based dealer, Zenith had scored a first with the launch. He added that a number of features have made this the lowest-priced computer, marketed by a branded company like Zenith.
Another dealer said that the low cost may have been possible due to a variety of reasons including bulk buying of components. Many dealers expect Zenith to reduce dealer margins significantly, in order to maintain viability.
Agreeing with this view, an IT analyst said that there was no other way the company could manage to retain profitability. He added that the company would primarily eat into grey market sales, before taking on the bigger brands.
Zenith hopes to cash in on the advantage of providing discerning Indian buyers with a value for money offering. Positioned as a computer for students interested in exploring the world of computers, the launch was timed to coincide with the holiday season.
Saraf claimed thatZenith worked on a cost-strategy basis and ascribed the low cost to lower overheads and smaller salary bills. The PC is targeted at the home segment and features a 200 MMX Pentium processor with a 16 mb RAM, 1.44 MB floppy drive, 2 Gb hard disk, 24x CD ROM, sound card, colour monitor and a 160-watts speaker.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
