ASUS Gets Serious in Sri Lanka

Well recognised but not particularly beloved by all, ASUS has to compete with the likes of Acer, Dell, HP, Toshiba, Gigabyte and Samsung, for attention in Sri Lanka. ASUS devices target a wide range of consumers but price-competition can only get you so far. The tech giant seems to have realised that it needs to get up-close and personal with Sri Lankan consumers, and it did just that in a press conference/ fashion show, where it paraded some of its most prized devices, flanked by its partners from Intel, Microsoft, John Keells Office Automation (JKOA) and EPSI. Two of the crown jewels included the relatively new 2-in-1 (hybrid system) Transformer 100, which comes with a 10” screen that functions as a stand-alone tablet, and the premium Zenbook UX302, featuring a 4th generation Intel processor. In addition, ASUS also brought along a variety of other laptops and ultrabooks already in the market.

In his presentation, Rajeev Chaudhari, Director Operations India, Country Product Manager, Sri Lanka, outlined ASUS’s strategy of diversifying its product portfolio with a particular focus on ultraportable systems such as Ultrabooks and hybrid devices such as the T100 and the Zenbook. ASUS also hopes these premium devices will draw attention towards its more mid-range or entry-level devices too. And the company is not happy just targeting every segment of the market, it plans to increase its presence across the entire country and to do that it has enlisted JKOA and EPSI to enhance its distribution network.

Rajeev Chaudhari

ASUS will also be making its presence felt with an exclusive store in Unity Plaza, Colombo, that will feature all its products and provide important after-sales services. Since few actually provide certified after-sales services, (others include Dell and Samsung), this might give ASUS an important advantage over its rivals. Additionally, ASUS will provide training and spare parts so its partners – JKOA and EPSI – can provide certified customer support services. Speaking separately, Mr. Chaudhari mentioned ASUS has big plans for Sri Lanka and hopes to become one of the top three brands for computers in the country. Moreover, he mentioned that ASUS would deploy its line of phablets (phone/tablet) in the 4th quarter of 2014 and the ASUS-range of phones in the 1st quarter of 2015.

Intel, represented by Country Business Manager, Indika de Zoysa, expressed strong enthusiasm towards the new range of ASUS products, especially its Zenbook that carries its latest 4th generation processor. Intel has already launched its Broadwell range of processors (the successor to the Haswell range) and ASUS is already making big plans for ultrabooks and tablets (especially the fan-less variants), perhaps even like the one showcased by Intel, last month.

Microsoft’s Director OEM, Poojitha Rajapakse, provided an outline of Microsoft’s partnership ASUS, focusing on Windows 8.1 and Office 365. Obviously, the easiest way of getting users to switch to the latest version of Windows is through a new hardware cycle. Speaking separately, after the event, Mr. Rajapakse also spoke on Microsoft’s strategy for deploying office and Windows (the genuine variants) in Sri Lanka. He mentioned Microsoft’s primary goal was to make it easy to shift to a genuine version of Windows and office, as opposed to simply clamping down on piracy. This involves working closely with vendors and local partners. Microsoft’s pricing strategy will also help. An annual subscription for the Office 365 personal package is LKR 7,100, which is quite reasonable. He also played down the chances of the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 debuting in Sri Lanka anytime soon. However, we might get our hands on latest ASUS 12.5” Transformer Book T300 Chi that has earned some pretty good reviews and will go head to head with Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3. Unfortunately, there is no news on its local debut date either.

Poojitha Rajapakse

Together, ASUS and its partners have invested or perhaps reinvested a lot of energy on brining Sri Lanka closer to the international standards for consumer technology. No doubt, other big players will follow sooner rather than later. While it is too soon to tell if ASUS will succeed in its goal of dominating the Sri Lankan market, all this is good news for Sri Lankan consumers and IT partners, who now have a greater range of choice and better access to premium IT services.

By Navam Niles