Dubai: Technology company HP Inc is giving a new lease of life to the sagging PC market by bringing in new devices and technologies to drive growth.
“We saw 2015 and 2016 steadily heading down but the predictions are that the market has flattened out,” Mathew Thomas, managing director for Middle East and Saudi Arabia at HP Inc, told Gulf News after unveiling an array of products in preparation for the eight-day Gitex Shopper which starts in Dubai on October 1.
The world’s second-largest PC manufacturer launched a smallest all-in-one printer, scanners, smallest desktop HP Elite Slice, HP Pavilion Wave desktop, Omen gaming desktop and laptops and a powerful Omen X gaming CPU.
“We are optimistic about the personal computer systems. The market is worth in excess of $350 billion [Dh1.3 trillion] and half of the addressable market is showing signs of growth, mainly coming in from the commercial customers,” said Narayanan Venkataraman, head of personal systems category for the Middle East and Saudi Arabia at HP Inc.
He said that about 450 million PCs globally are currently four years old and are the catalyst for growth.
Fouad R. Charakla, senior research manager at International Data Corporation, said that the overall decline seen in the second quarter in MEA (Middle East and Africa) was the slowest in the past five quarters.
“Demand in the regional PC market will continue to be inhibited by a variety of factors over the coming quarters,” he said, adding that the “market will decline at a slower rate than previously experienced.”
Among the PC category, Venkataraman said that the gaming segment continues to grow better than other categories.
“We are in constant effort to bring in new products to our core segment that will address the refresh cycle, new buyers and traditional PC buyers. The second thing is looking at the incremental growth which we can bring in with the new technology and form factors to drive growth,” Thomas said.
HP is looking at a serviced model of devices for consumers and commercials where they can pay per usage on a monthly basis.
“We will bring in the ecosystem that a user needs — devices and software, and we will manage the facility. The core retail business will continue as usual and we are looking at how to generate more business,” he said.
HP had already started the managed service for its printer solutions where a customer pays per page.
To further strengthen its printer business, HP acquired Samsung’s printer business for $1.05 billion in a clear move to disrupt the $55 billion global copier industry.
“HP is looking into the future and investing in reality,” Thomas said.
On whether Gitex will boost HP’s sales, he said that Gitex is a place where one segment comes to buy a product while the other segment comes to learn and see the new technology.
“We will have very good offers at Gitex. Research firm GfK stats show that retail activity is picking up slowly in the last couple of quarters. With this mind, we expect Gitex to be a better event than last year. HP has a 27 per cent share in retail segment as per GfK and we will maintain our share,” he said.
