PC maker Acer which launched the first ultrabook in India is tweaking its business model following a surfeit of such me-too products in the market.

Acer now plans to launch a range of notebooks which will ape the features of ultrabooks but will be priced much lower. The ‘value-slim' range of notebooks will be priced in the same range of Acer's mainstream notebooks in the Rs 30,000-37,000 band.

“The product will be out by the end of this quarter,” Mr S. Rajendran, Chief Marketing Officer of Acer India, told Business Line .

Ultrabooks are high-end notebooks which guzzle less power, are more responsive, have instant connectivity, and are thinner and lighter than notebooks.

“Customers are demanding these features and increasingly looking at a computing device with features like instant-on,” Mr Rajendran said.

Acer will cascade these features to the value-slim product priced between the mainstream notebooks and the ultrabooks category.

Acer was the first company to launch an ultrabook in October 2011, priced around Rs 45,000.

The early-mover advantage, the cost of scaled economies, IPs, the company has got in the segment help in bringing out the new range of products, he said.

Ultrabook segment

Last few months, several players have entered the ultrabook segment.

Lenovo, for instance, came out with its IdeaPad Yoga, Dell India launched its XPS 13 Ultrabook, Wipro brought in its e.go Aero range and Samsung launched its Series 5 ultra notebooks.

“The market is en masse going to shift there; a person who is a notebook buyer would see a merit in moving to this,” Mr Rajendran said.

>sushma.un@thehindu.co.in

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