By Nizla Naizer
The world’s largest technology company and the largest computer provider in Sri Lanka, Hewlett-Packard (HP) sent their top Asia-Pacific representatives to meet government representatives to analyse opportunities in the country with plans for 2009, declared by the government as the year of Information Technology (IT) and English Education.

“HP has a market share of 20% overall in the Sri Lankan market and we consider it the second best market after Pakistan in the emerging market economies within the Asia Pacific Region,” HP Personal Systems Group (PSG), Asia Emerging Countries General Manager, Philip Lau explained, adding that, HP has invested heavily in Sri Lanka.

“We see a huge opportunity here, especially, in the emerging trend of Netbooks and Nettops and people who wish to work from home.”

HP, in accordance, is to introduce new and innovative products in their stores this month. HP PSG South East Asia and Taiwan, Vice President Ng Tian Chong explained that, products such as the mini Notebook HP 2133 priced around Rs. 70,000, with colourful skins to suit the user, will be one such example of catering to the new trends in Sri Lanka.

“We also had intensive discussions with the government on its policies for next year. As the leading vendor, we want to play a leading role,” he said, “We have a 15-year history here and we are here for the long term.”

New trends
“Across the globe, HP has identified women and youth, who carry laptops as fashion statements, as an important new segment. We have created colourful skins and Netbooks that can fit into fashionable purses, in order to cater to that need,” Tian Chong informed. “Customers have become more socially responsible and, we have identified new channels of Marketing such as Blogs and e-Communities as an important tool. Customers, these days, have lower loyalty to global brands, and with policies in countries like China, where ‘Buy Chinese’ is being promoted, we have to have local value addition to grab the Market.”

Tian Chong explained that, he hopes Sri Lanka will follow the model set by Vietnam, which is now considered an important stand-alone Market in the region, with a growth of 20% annually. “Once Vietnam stabilised, the Economy took off and the demand for computer solutions was massive. We expect the same from Sri Lanka, once the situation stabilises.”

He explained that, developing Asian countries such as India, Vietnam and China are the fastest growing Markets, while traditional stalwarts such as Japan, Hong Kong and Australia will slow down over time. “Our global brand positioning within the region rose from 44th to 5th last year, as we stepped up our Marketing and Public Relations campaigns.”

Tian Chong also cautioned about the current state of the world economy, which is witnessing a ‘financial tsunami’, “Things don’t look so good, but our region has weathered these storms before and, HP is prepared and ready to take measures to ensure the Company’s survival,” adding that, current strategy was to expand HP sales from primarily urban areas to rural reach.