Hot products in shops and on the horizon

Mobile phones, digital cameras, printers, notebooks and displays are all selling well to better-informed customers

SASIWIMON BOONRUANG

Sony Cybershot

During the past five years, the consumer market has become the highest growth sector in IT. Tapping into that growth are an expanding range of IT retail centres, not just in Bangkok but in every major city in the country.

Narong Intanate, chairment of distributor The Value Systems, said that one of the biggest changes is that IT has now become a "lifestyle" purchase for consumers. The Internet has encouraged people to bring computers into their homes to take advantage of content and services.

With the development of "always-on" technology, people can use the Internet for work or play wherever they are. Products are more customized according to an individual's taste, while users can download a growing selection of video, music and other media.

Narong noted that the spread of home technology will only grow, with demand for wireless, broadband and home networking gear. So what are the hot products that are either here or on the horizon for consumers? Here are some suggestions.

Mobile phones

Nokia N95

While the penetration rate of computers in Thailand is around 15 percent, for mobile phones it's closer to 50 percent. It has become so widespread that it is now used as an entertainment device and for tasks such as reading email or news headlines. And there is no shortage of brands fighting it out in the race to add new advanced features.

One of the prime battlegrounds is the addition of built-in cameras. Phones have moved up from the 300,000-pixel level to units with a built-in 2-megapixel camera and in some cases up to 5 megapixels.

Another popular addition is the MP3 player. In fact the gadget that began life as a mere phone is fast evolving into a pocket-sized computer. New phones are extremely versatile multimedia tools that allow users to do everything from sending email to playing online games and even listening to music.

Nokia, the market leader here, sees Internet access and Web 2.0 technologies as the next area of growth for mobile phones, according to Nontawan Sindhvananda, head of Multimedia Business, Nokia Thailand. The Nokia N-series is media-enabled and can access the web to upload and share pictures or video.

Location-based services and navigation tools are another trend in the mobile phone arena. Nokia's N95, for example, has GPS along with a 5-megapixel camera, 802.11g support, a 3.5mm audio jack, 150MB of internal memory, microSD expansion, and HSDPA support.

"We don't call it a smart phone, rather it is a multimedia computer which is a combination of feature of a phone and a computer," Nontawan said.

Citing a Gartner report, Nontawan said that worldwide converged mobile devices in 2006 grew at 50 percent over the previous year, and the market was forecast to grow to 175 million and 250 million units in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Manop Maneechawakajone, sales and marketing director of LG Electronics (Thailand), said while features of handsets from different vendors didn't differ so much, each brand was focussed on having a unique design.

Prices for mobile phones this year would continue to drop, with the cheaper 4,000-baht handsets expected to gain around 50 percent of the total market. Price drops will also likely see phones with a colour display selling for as low as 1,000-2,000 baht. Many users will tend to have more than one handset, especially Bangkok people, as they will use one for data services and the other for voice calls.

Kittipong Kanokvilairat, general manager of telecommunications, Thai Samsung Electronics, believes that the features and functions of mobile phones have now developed to their optimum state - the the difference will be in quality, such as a better sound system or better quality of display. This will lead to more sub-segmentation of users. "More than 50 percent of consumers who have a mobile phone will be looking for a better one," he said.

While 3G technology could change the market, this is not expected to be available in Thailand any time soon. Another model that will be unavailable in Thailand for some time is the Apple iPhone, which will run Mac OS X, have full iTunes integration and will be able to seamlessly sync data with a Mac, PC, or Internet service, including music and videos from iTunes, contacts, calendars, photos, notes, bookmarks and email accounts.

It is forecast that new mobile phone sales will be around 8-10 million units this year, with 1-2 million of these expected to be so-called "smart phones."

Digital cameras

Asus notebook

With so many converged mobile devices already including a camera, there is some concern that sales of single-function digital cameras would be impacted. However, Warin Tantipongpanich, Canon Marketing (Thailand) director and general manager, Consumer Imaging & Information Division, said that digital camera sales were still growing, especially in Thailand, and would continue to do so through 2007-2008.

Digital camera manufacturers this year will continue to develop more sophisticated features to enhance the quality of photo. Canon recently revealed a prototype technology at Canon Expo in Japan where the camera sensor would not function if the person closed their eyes. Meanwhile, the printing technology will also be improved to make it more user friendly and to produce better quality photos.

New software programs for photo printing will be embedded in the printer. Newer printers will use a similar micro processor as the digital camera for better compatibility and results.

Warin noted that purchasers were today more educated about the models they were buying. In the past, they usually asked the retailer about features, whereas today they check information in advance and know what kinds of features they would like to have. They have studied the features and have the necessary information to make a decision.

Koichi Suzuki, general manager, Consumer Marketing Group, Sony Thai, agreed that digital cameras will continue to be popular, as it will become a fashionable and must-have gadget like a mobile phone. Design will become a key feature to attract the consumers' attention, he said. Apart from looks, ease of use with high resolution plus some value added features - like double anti-shake or anti-blur and a touchscreen LCD - will also be attractive features.

According to Jaratpong Janejarasskul, photographic division manager of Jebsen & Jessen Marketing, cameras that consume less power and as a result allow for longer shooting periods are trends that manufacturers like Casio are focusing on today.

"Thai consumers don't like to buy accessories, so the producers have to create a camera that utilises less memory," he said, noting that there would be new cameras that require less memory but with better quality this year.

Other camera makers have found their own niche, such as Olympus, which is strong in terms of durability, allowing users to take pictures any place - even 10 metres under the water without using a special case.

The 5-megapixel camera will become standard this year, although the likes of Samsung has an entry-level unit with 6-megapixels and will aim at the premium market this year. However, Jaratpong pointed out that pixels will not be a major factor, rather camera manufacturers will compete in areas such as power saving and durability.

Customers buying a digital camera should consider the lens, CCD and processor, and should take time to shoot photos and print them first to test the quality of the photo.

Printers

Sony MP3

The consumer printer market is growing rapidly and is spurred on by the popularity of photo printing. While the overall printer market in 2006 increased by five percent, the inkjet photo printer market had an estimated 13 percent growth.

IT City president Ekachai Sirijirapatana said colour printers and multifunction machines will continue to grow, however single function products will decline unless they have outstanding quality.

HP predicted that the growth for black and white printers would be only 10 percent, compared to 20 percent for colour printers and 30 percent for multifunction machines.

Photo printing process solutions and dye-sublimation technology printing are becoming standard, while the ability to print in various formats or do cards and calendars, is also growing.

Brother Thailand sees the most demand for inkjet multifunction devices. Managing director Somchai Soongswang said the market base for inkjet multifunction machines would be as large as 350,000 units this year, while the laser market was only 32,000 units.

The shift from single-function printers to multi-function was a regional trend, and Thailand is moving in this direction. Somchai said that compared to the business market, which is steady, the home consumer market would increase rapidly in line with growth of mobile phones and digital cameras.

Brother inkjet multifunctions now sport a more compact design and features including printing speed improvement with better nozzle layout, continuous paper feed mode with dual purpose tray (photo tray), cartridge accessibility and replacement, colour LCD display, wireless network support and PicBridge, which enables users to directly print photos stored in a digital camera.

Epson (Thailand), meanwhile, is more focussed on home-printing. The company recently introduced its "Epson Claria Photo Lab", a system it claims can offer print longevity that will rival photo lab prints.

Epson Claria PhotoEnhance is software to automatically correct colour and lighting imperfections, while Claria Photographic Inks comprises six colour inks.

Notebook computers

HP slimline

2006 was the year that notebook computers captured the highest growth in the IT market, and this robust growth is expected to continue this year due to better price performance and the need for mobility.

The range will cover everything from the needs of the student to the business and professional user. Notebooks with built-in camera and wireless features will become standard and allow for things such as video conferencing, distance learning and VoIP.

Acer Computer Thailand senior marketing manager Nithipat Praweensongwuthi claimed the design of notebooks would start to suit Asian people better. "A large screen computer is better for Western users, but Asian people and Thais today prefer a smaller unit, so there will be more variety of design and sizes that better fit the needs of Thai consumers," Nithipat said, predicting that 12- and 14-inch notebooks would be more popular than 15-inch models.

In terms of price, Nithipat thought that notebook at over 10,000 baht were possible, but consumers were more interested in the latest technology. As a result, the typical pricing will be around 25,000 baht and up.

According to Koichi Suzuki, general manager of Sony Thai's consumer marketing group, said that mobility and entertainment would be key trends, and he said the notebook that can combine mobility with stylish design and light weight will be well received.

Notebooks will also play the role of the entertainment center, connecting other gadgets such as a digital camera, video camera, MP3 player for personal entertainment.

Meanwhile, Toshiba Thailand says consumers want more personalisation in their products. Besides design and features, Toshiba notebooks will focus on security thanks to its "EasyGuard" technology for notebooks.

Displays & PCs

The launch of Microsoft's Vista operating system is expected to boost the market for LCD displays because of its entertainment applications in areas such as music, video and photo, which will be more appealing on a widescreen LCD.

Nithipat of Acer claimed that Acer's LCD sales increased over 200 percent last year and he estimated sales would grow 90 percent this year. The key factors, he said, were cheaper prices and new applications that will require more resources and better image processors.

"The 17-inch LCD was very popular last year and it is still mainstream this year, but 21-inch widescreen will increasingly be adopted," he said.

Thana Thanapase, IT business general manager for Thai Samsung Electronics, said the LCD boom would see a sharp drop in CRT sales. Samsung today has a leading 25 percent market share for displays and it expects the ratio between LCD and CRT this year to be 70:30.

"Today the 17-inch display is the standard, but there will be a change in the market during the first half year and we will see the 19-inch LCD will become the standard," Thana said.

However, Vira Intanate, SVOA CEO of IT Distribution, expected LCD screens to replace almost all CRT sales this year due to rapidly falling LCD prices.

Hewlett Packard (Thailand) general manager of imaging and printing, Prasert Charoonpaisal, said HP had anticipated the digital entertainment trend a few years ago and as a result it has designed its products to better fit the consumer's lifestyle. For example, a box-shaped PC will no longer be common in the home - it will be smaller and more modern since consumers will also use it as a piece of home decoration.

Whereas the overall PC market growth was dropping, Apple Thailand country manager Therdsak Sakulyong said Mac sales were bucking this trend. Demand for the iMac is robust because of design and function. "You will see more people hiding the CPU beneath the desk because of its unwieldy look," Therdsak suggested.

Also coming is the recently announced Apple TV, with 40GB hard disk drive for up to 50 hours of video and streaming content. This can come wirelessly from a Mac or PC to an LCD or plasma display with DVD quality. Users can enjoy movies, TV shows, music and podcasts on their widescreen TV wirelessly.

MP3 players

The MP3 player market took off at the end of 2004, but by last year it was gradually dropping. Today, MP3 players are making way for converged devices like mobile phones or PDA phones that can also play music.

Jaratpong of Jebsen, a distributor of iRiver players, admitted that every MP3 vendor was suffering because the market was being eroded by mobile handsets. "Most of the mobile phones today have an MP3 player, so consumers think that it is a better choice to buy a handset," he said.

There will be only two segments for MP3 players: musicians and other professionals who want high quality of sound; and consumers who prefer cheap devices from non-brand vendors.

Sony Thai, however, is more optimistic. Mr Suzuki said MP3 players were one of the fastest growth product categories in the market and predicted the trend will be on-going.

He said Sony's Walkman MP3 player had been very popular. The design is a key factor, followed by value added features like long playing time, quick charging, ease of use and the ability to connect with other equipment like a notebook or home stereo.

Suphot Leenanurak of Thai Samsung Electronics said that Samsung would launch up to eight new models this year. The 512MB memory player will be fastest growth segment, with a more than 30 percent increase expected.

When it comes to MP3 players, however, the gadget that is still the reference is Apple's iPod. Therdsak of Apple Thailand stated that by the end of 2006 the company had refreshed its product lines and offered three categories: iPod video, iPod nano and iPod shuffle. In Thailand the best-seller is the iPod nano.

PDA

The smart mobile device market is changing. Traditional Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) shipments are in decline, while converged devices (smart phones, PDA phones and wireless handhelds) are booming.

The total market for Windows Mobile devices last year was around 75,000 units and is forecast to grow to around 140,000 units this year.

Nattawat Woranopakul, country sales manager of Dopod International (Thailand), noted that lower prices for hardware and the development of new applications would make PDA phonesmore popular. Applications like GPS navigation and VoIP on PDA phone would be highlights for Dopod this year. The recently launched P800W model is claimed as the first Windows Mobile PDA phone with photo navigation. It enables users to automatically place satellite coordinates into any outdoor photos they take.

PDAs phone are also becoming more popular among females, Nattawat said, with its 818Pro model, available in five colours, selling 5,000 units within a few months.

Prasert of HP noted that the company recently introduced its iPaq rx5770 Travel Companion PocketPC, which it touts as a personal travel assistant and entertainment device. It combines movies, music, Internet and GPS.

IT City president Ekachai Sirijirapatana said that any device offering personal digital wireless access features could be expected to sell well this year.

"Personal digital wireless products will see outstanding growth as users tend to use more devices which offer colour display/output, multi-function features and mobility," he said."Users tend to use a notebook as a wireless device and share Internet at home, so router products will be more and more popular," he added.

With so many devices offering so many features and functions, users are advised to create a list of their objectives and to choose products based on their requirements - without too much concern about what will arrive in the future.

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