Ultrabook sales in Russia may reach 700,000 units in 2012 - Dell
MOSCOW. March 28 (Interfax) - Sales of the ultrabook, a new personal device format introduced by Intel in the fall of 2011, in Russia will range from around 500,000 to 700,000 in 2012, Denis Minov, a product manager at Dell Russia and CIS, told Interfax.
The Dell figure is based on Intel's own forecasts, he said.
Representatives of Intel and Microsoft, which are promoting the ultrabook as an answer to Apple and its Macbook Air, say the devices should combine the small dimensions and weight of a tablet computer but have the capacity of a notebook. Intel says ultrabooks are ultrathin devices of no more than 21 mm thickness with a 13 inch screen and 18 mm from a smaller screen. At the same time the device should be able to work for at least 5 and better still around 8 hours on battery power while in constant use before it requires charging. The weight of the device should not exceed 1.4 kilograms.
In the future ultrabooks will attain functions that were previously mainly for smartphones and tablets, such as touchscreens and voice and action recognition.
Intel Vice President Mooly Eden predicts that there will be at least 75 ultrabook models on the international market by the end of 2012.
In the four months since sales of the first ultrabooks began, 15 models have already been launched.
Dell was a little behind the market, introducing its first ultrabook Dell XPS 13 in March 2012. Partly for this reason the Dell share in ultrabook sales in Russia will be around 4% instead of 5% on average for all types of Dell notebooks, Minov said.
The Dell XPS 13 is less than 0.63 cm at its thinnest part and it weighs just 1.36 kg (depending on configuration). The Dell XPS 13 will be available in March 2012 with a recommended retail price of from 47,000 rubles and above, depending on the configuration.
Research company IDC said over 2 million notebooks were sold in Russia in the third quarter of 2011, including standard notebooks and netbooks. Thus, this year ultrabooks, the specification for which were developed by Intel in November 2011, will account for around 10% of the market.
Research and consulting company IHS iSuppli forecasts that the share of ultrabook sales among overall notebook sales will grow from 2% to 43% in 2011 to 2015.
Experts re sure the indicator will already reach 13% at the end of 2013 due to a gradual drop in price.
Although the first ultrabooks appeared in the fall of 2011 they will only start to be actively promoted in mid-2012 together with the distribution of new generation Intel Ivy Bridge processors. Intel itself believes that ultrabooks could occupy up to 40% of the notebook market by the end of 2012, ensuring steady demand for the company's processors.
Merill Lynch forecasts that around 15 million ultrabooks will be sold around the world in 2012 and that the number will jump to 50 million by the end of 2013, which corresponds to around 7% and 20% of the overall notebook market.
