Asus ? the Taiwanese company known largely among SA's gaming community ? is significantly shifting its local strategy.
It aims to strengthen its consumer hardware brand and work its way up in the competitive and lucrative mobile device market.
Asus product manager Werner Joubert, who is part of a now rapidly growing local team, says the company has big plans in SA. These include the re-launch of its tablet range - soon to be the Zenpad range - and a possible smartphone launch on the back of this, towards the beginning of 2016.
"We want to become more local and are doing things differently this time around." Joubert says it has been a struggle for Asus to gain a foothold in SA for many years, but now the company is bringing its brand to market in a much more aggressive way.
The refreshed strategy, he says, begins with tablets and is likely to result in the launch of a mid- to high-range series of smartphones on local ground in the near future.
Asus country manager Jeff Kuo said in October that the company was actively assessing the local market to determine viability and demand for another smartphone competitor.
Joubert notes the decision to launch an offensive on the smartphone front would largely depend on the success of the company's soon to be revised tablet offering. "Last quarter, [Asus was] number four in terms of [tablet] unit sales direct to the consumer in SA. We aim to be number two this year."
He notes Samsung dominates on the tablet front in SA, with strong competition also coming from Chinese counterparts Lenovo and Huawei. "Chinese brands are on the attack in SA and we don't want to miss that boat."
In terms of market share, Asus went from being in fifth position in the third quarter of 2014 with 4%, to fourth position with 7.3% market share.
Tablet turnaround
Asus users in SA are used to the company's Fonepad (7-inch tablet with phone capability), MeMO Pad (8-inch tablet) and Transfromer Pad (two-in-one Android) offerings - but the line-up is about to change, says Joubert.
As of the second quarter of this year, the company will start marketing its tablet range - which Joubert notes will be significantly improved, but at the same price points - as the Zenpad range. The Zenpad range will include a 7-inch, 8-inch and 10-inch iteration, while the transformer model will be dubbed the Zenpad S.
"The devices will see a redesign that takes them out of entry-level and improves the look, feel and performance, but the price points will stay in the same range."
In retrospect, Joubert says when the company first brought the tablet to SA, it struggled to take off and margins were unsustainable. "The Nexus 7 did not take off in SA. We had lots of stock, but it struggled to sell."
This prompted a strategy shift, says Joubert, which started taking shape at the beginning of last year and is now starting to materialise.
The Asus team is growing steadily, while the new design identity for the tablet range has been confirmed, says Joubert. "I can't give too much away, but [hardware features] will be very different from what users are used to."
Asus' operating system, Zen UI (user interface), is also in trial phase and will be adapted for the South African market in June.
Share