Lenovo confident of Malaysian market despite economic outlook

• Banking on SMB market to be key growth area for its Malaysian operations
• Asia Pacific devices market spending to grow 12.3% in 2013 over 2012: Gartner

LEADING PC maker Lenovo is banking on the small and mid-sized business (SMB) market to be a key growth area for its Malaysian operations, citing a report by market research and analyst firm Gartner.
 
SMBs will continue to spend cautiously over 2013, looking at software, personnel and hardware solutions with the best return on investment as top priority, Lenovo said in a statement.
 
Preliminary reports by Gartner show that worldwide PC shipments totaled 87.5 million units in the third quarter of 2012, an 8.3% decline compared with the third quarter of 2011. However, despite this, Gartner is projecting that in the Asia Pacific region, the devices segment (including PCs, tablets, mobile phones and printers) will be worth a total of US$229.7 billion, a 12.3% increase from the corresponding 2012 spending.
 
These results reaffirm the various factors that have influenced SMB spending, including vendors shifting focus towards clearing out inventory in response to the new Windows 8 operating system (OS) launch and a focus on solution-based models that continue to further streamline costs.
 
“We have grown faster than the major PC makers for 11 consecutive quarters, and faster than the industry for 13 consecutive quarters,” claimed Khoo Hung Chuan, country general manager, Lenovo Malaysia.
 
“The SMB segment will continue to be a key area of growth for Lenovo Malaysia besides our strong consumer and enterprise segments as well. Lenovo continues to support the ‘PC+ evolution’ vision in which the PC remains central to the digital lives of people and businesses and is at the heart of an ecosystem of tablets, smart phones and smart TVs.”
 
Local SMB spending
 
Regardless of Gartner’s projected report on spending, SMBs remain wary as the state of the global economy continues to be uncertain, Lenovo said.
 
Factors that feed this uncertainty include the constant pressure to stay cost-competitive, the emergence of alternative computing devices such as tablets and smartphones that have penetrated the business, as well as new technologies such as Intel’s Ultrabook platform and the Windows 8 OS which encourage mobility.
 
Currently, it is estimated that only 20% of Malaysian SMBs leverage technology on a daily basis in their business. As more SMBs embrace technology for the first time, PC consumption patterns show actual growth in secondary cities, where many customers are first-time buyers.
 
The demand for personal and business computing devices required to participate in today’s networked world of business information, electronic communication, social media and online entertainment have increased tremendously in emerging markets, Lenovo said.
 
The wholesale distribution SMB market, although still not deeply penetrated, remains an untapped future resource for mobility to improve productivity and increase revenue.

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