The International Data Corporation (IDC), a global provider of market intelligence, advisory services and events for the ICT and consumer technology markets, expects the ultrabook PC market in SA to experience steady growth, although volumes will remain low.
This is due to several factors, including emerging alternate computing devices, price sensitivity, dynamic consumer preferences and general economic conditions.
According to IDC, pricing is the key factor, as well as the main inhibitor, of growth. The ultrabook PC's thin, light design impressed early prospective customers - but its high price points didn't. However, pricing may come down in future, as competition between vendors increases, according to IDC.
However, IDC also notes that, in the slow-growth PC market, new ultrabook volumes may not drive manufacturing production economies of scale - resulting in ultrabooks remaining niche products for a while.
Another concern, says IDC, is that, to maintain its thin form, the optical drive as an integrated, removable storage option is likely to be omitted. The main uses of these drives are to watch DVDs, install software and run emergency disks.
The need for this type of drive may be reduced because of high-speed connections, cloud storage and high throughput USB drives; however, many consumers in SA have yet to internalise that change to a level of doing without an available optical drive option.
IDC also indicates that ultrabook growth in terms of volume will remain relatively limited compared to the fast-growing tablet market and the broad portable PC market. If key stakeholders created relevant combinations of processor, form factor, usability and an operating system in an economically viable application developer environment, IDC predicts that the outlook for ultrabooks would be higher than currently anticipated.
IDC further says that many of the features and characteristics of spec-compliant ultrabooks will appear in the broad market of personal computer offerings.
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