Intel touts net top as the next big thing

Asina Pornwasin

The Nation

Despite the increasing popularity of notebook computers, chip-maker giant Intel believes the desktop computer will never die.

However, the market is approaching a turning point and the desktop computer will be designed on the basis of market segmentation.

The company forecasts that the number of desktop computers in Asia Pacific, excluding China and Japan, will touch 20 million units and will go up to 25 million units by 2012.

Navin Shenoy, Intel's vice president and general manager of sales and marketing for the Asia-Pacific region, said the desktop-computer market will continue to grow but it will change in terms of technology and market approach.

From the technology perspective, computer manufacturers are exploring a new market segment called Net Top, which is a new form factor for desktop-computing devices designed specifically for Internet access.

Net Tops are small in size, priced inexpensively and have low computing power. The device is designed mainly for accessing the Internet.

The driving force behind the Net Top is the rapid rise in the number of Internet users around the world. Shenoy said there are more than one billion Web users and about 150 million websites around the globe.

The Net Top is powered by an Intel Atom processor, a family of low-power processors designed for a range of new market segments including fixed- and mobile-Internet devices and simple, low-cost, Internet-focused machines.

The Atom is Intel's smallest chip, built with 47 million of the world's smallest transistors.

"Net Top is a simple, affordable and Internet-centric device. It will be available in the global market by June. Its price is around US$250 [Bt7,912]," Shenoy said.

From the market perspective, the marketing direction for the desktop computer is moving toward the segmentation-based approach. Shenoy said the desktop computer will be designed to serve specific groups of users such as gamers, Internet users and business people.

Net Top is one example of such segmentation.

About 60 million Net-Top units are expected to be sold across the world by 2011.

"The desktop computer's growth rate has dropped while the notebook computer is taking over the desktop market. However, the desktop computer still has its niches and is growing, though through a different market approach," Shenoy said.

However, Shenoy said small and medium businesses (SMBs), especially in South East Asia, are driving desktop sales in Asia Pacific. More than 50 per cent of the desktop market in Asia Pacific is driven by SMBs.

 "In the first quarter of this year, the desktop market in Asia Pacific grew 20 per cent compared to the worldwide growth rate of 15 per cent to 16 per cent," Shenoy said.