Refreshing Desktop Market
All-in-one (AIO) PCs are back to rev up the dwindling desktop PC sales and offer a stiff competition to notebooks
CRN Network
All-in-one (AIO) PCs have made a come back and are expected to see significant volumes over the next few months.
IDC predicts that by 2013 small form factor (SFF) desktops and AIOs will make up nearly 38 percent of the desktop shipments, globally.
Many analysts believe that AIO PCs would help invigorate the desktop segment which has been witnessing a consistent fall in market share against notebooks.
Growth factors
Vendors are bullish about AIO PCs and have launched multiple models. They believe that with notebooks becoming a dominant form factor in the personal computing space, desktops will have to don the role of a family PC that can play TV, music, movies, photos, voice and video using the home network.
Lenovo for instance has recently launched the Lenovo A600 with integrated gaming control from Wii that let users play motion-sensing games.
HP has been shipping the high-end HP TouchSmart AIOs which come in 22-inch and 25.5-inch sizes. The company is expected to roll out low-end models soon. Acer has introduced the AIO desktop under its Gateway brand. Dell has launched a model for SMBs under its Vostro brand.
According to a survey conducted by Dell, small businesses in emerging markets are keenly looking at desktops that can help save expensive real estate and showed a clear preference for small form factor PCs.
Dell claims that its AIOs can provide 79 percent space saving compared to a traditional desktop.
| Quick Five |
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» Expected to be the fastest growing desktop
category
» Small businesses in emerging markets have showed a clear preference for small form factor PCs
» Might be sold through mass markets
» Prices are expected to come down drastically
» On commercial front, AIOs would be positioned as thin computing devices
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Channel strategies
Presently, all vendors are taking the retail route to address consumers. However, as the market grows, the AIO PCs will go mass market.
While AIOs were a rage in certain geographies in late nineties, they never took off in the country due to prohibitive pricing. In its new avatar, AIOs are available at an affordable price for even the entry-level customers to consider it.
The price difference between a similarly configured traditional desktop and an AIO PC of the same brand is less than 15 percent at the entry level.
Future
Clearly, there will be two segments emerging for the AIO PC. At the high-end, AIOs will come with advanced home networking features, touch screen controls and gaming capabilities, and will be positioned as a lifestyle product. While at the low-end, AIOs will be feature low-powered processors and will be positioned for first-time value-conscious users.
On the commercial front, AIOs would be positioned as thin computing devices with space savings benefits and easy manageability. |