Singapore ignores tablet PCs

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Despite debuting with much fanfare last week, initial consumer response towards tablet PCs has been lukewarm. According to several retailers surveyed by CNETAsia, the new device drew curious onlookers keen to try out the swivelling and handwriting functions, but scored a blank in terms of sales. "No value for money" was the main gripe by customers, many companies said. Last Thursday, six hardware companies launched tablet PCs in all crowning shapes and forms, with prices ranging between S$3,391 (£1190) and S$4,999. "Price is a big issue," said Ricky Chew, retail manager at PC Connect. "(Also) I think many consumers are not aware of tablet PCs," he added. "With education and time, the situation should improve." Ronan Chia, a senior sales executive at PC vendor AGI Technology, agrees the tablet PC's price is an inhibitor. "Customers tend to say the price is too high, and it's not worth the money for the specifications they're getting," he said. "They feel it's too much to pay over S$3,000 for a Pentium III 800 MHz tablet with a mere CR-ROM drive." Both retailers are currently selling the Acer Travelmate C100 tablet PC for S$3,788, with plans to introduce other brands as they become available. Market researchers too, echo the sentiment that it will take some time for the new portable computers to take off. A Gartner Dataquest report issued last week predicts that the new machines will account for a mere one percent of worldwide notebook shipments in 2003, amounting to a total of about 425,000 tablet PCs. International Data Corp also expects a slow start for tablet PCs, selling about 575,000 units in the US in 2003 and about 1 million units in 2004. At the launch of the tablet PCs last week in Singapore, Microsoft stressed the new gadgets are targeted at the corporate market. Oliver Roll, general manager of marketing for Microsoft Asia, said the company is eyeing three groups of users for the tablets -- road warriors, corridor warriors, or workers who are often away from their desks but require access to the network, and users from vertical sectors and educational institutions. In line with the corporate focus, the software maker said a number of organisations in Singapore have trialled the tablet PCs before the official launch. These include the National University Hospital, Nanyang Technological University, OCBC Bank and the Singapore Civil Defence Force. In Asia-Pacific, Australia was first to witness the launch of Microsoft's Tablet PC operating system, followed by Japan and Singapore. Malaysia will get her turn on November 20, one week after Taiwan. The product will launch in India and China later in the month.

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