Intel tablets see some early success in Pakistan

Despite delays, sales in country beat regional markets.

KARACHI: Despite a delayed shipment and a price range that exceeded initial estimates, Intel Corporation seems to have some early success with its Android-based, mid-range, tablets introduced in the Pakistani market for the first time early this month.

“Pakistan is exceeding in the sales of Intel tablets when compared to the regional markets,” Intel Pakistan’s Country Manager Naveed Siraj said on Wednesday, while briefing a group of journalists about the company’s Android- and Windows-based tablets launched recently.

“The September stock is already sold out while the next month’s shipment has been booked as well,” Siraj said – though he did not disclose the sales figures. The market response has exceeded our expectations,” he said.

The Santa Clara, California-based chip-maker had announced in May that it would introduce Intel-powered seven-inch tablets in the Pakistani market by the end of June or early July. However, the devices hit the market in mid-September.

Although the chip-making giant seems to be targeting a different market segment by introducing mid-range tablets, it has crossed the $150 price tag – the starting price for these devices is about Rs16,500, according to Siraj.

With a price range higher than most Chinese tablets, the company – which has also changed its famous branding campaign of the 90s from ‘Intel Inside’ to ‘Look Inside’ – seems to be betting on its brand name.

The return rate for the cheaper products is 30% that means 30 out of 100 products are sent back for warranty support, Hasan told Tribune in a past interview. The return rate of Intel CPUs is 0.01%, he said. “It, therefore, makes sense to spend a little more on quality.”

Both the seven-inch and 10.1-inch Android-based tablets that were introduced by the company are powered by Intel Atom single core processors; have 16 gigabytes (GB) of internal storage; run Jelly Bean and have a two-megapixel rear camera. The seven-inch tablet has a 4100 milliampere-hour (mAh) battery and support external memory of up to 32GB. The 10.1-inch tablet has a 6600mAh battery and is rated to provide seven-hour video play back and supports an external memory of up to 48GB. The devices are manufactured by ECS, a Taiwanese firm that manufactures hardware for some of the world’s leading IT companies.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th, 2013.

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