Tracking market confidence

Laptop penetration in the Middle East has been growing at a rapid pace. John Coulston speaks to Gulf News on the potential of the market.

Gulf News: How is the much higher regional consumer confidence impacting the laptop market in the Middle East?

Coulston: The driving consumer confidence is evident in the number of laptops and mobiles sold and the percentage penetration that can be seen of technology usage by individuals in the region.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have the highest percentages of mobile phones per capita than anywhere else in the world.

The ability to access technology here, ahead of other regions, has given consumers the confidence to go out there and invest in new technology themselves. This can be seen in the demand for specific technology.

Gulf News: Can laptop penetration here ever reach the same level as the region's mobile penetration rates?

Coulston: Michael Dell has a saying that internet and laptop penetration follows mobile penetration. The two are very much linked. But due to the much higher cost of laptops, I don't see that happening in the short term. Perhaps in the long term, the development of laptop technology might change that.

Gulf News: How is the business market growing against the consumer market?

Coulston: We see business maturing and growing really quick over here. Global companies are investing in the region in addition to the local companies. And that is really fuelling the growth of business technology in general, not just laptops but also data centres and desktop computers as well.

Gulf News: Why do users swap consumer laptops for newer models more often than business laptops?

Coulston: Absolutely. Corporate technology is designed for stability. It reduces the number of times a corporation needs to refresh its technology, because that helps to keep the costs down.

Our consumer laptops are designed to be refreshed much more regularly because they have the latest technology brought to the market. But corporations demand longer product stability and therefore a longer product lifecycle for their laptops.

Gulf News: What are the increased risks involved in mobilising corporate information?

Coulston: A challenge in mobility of corporate information is the increased risk of data loss through security breaches. Hundreds of thousands of laptops are left in taxis or at airports on a regular basis.

That is a real risk to corporate security. Services like Dell's track and data protection are becoming more and more in demand by corporate customers.