Computer sales to continue growing by 20%
Computer sales to continue growing by 20%
Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Computer sales are likely to continue growing by an annual
rate of 20 percent this year in spite of the current economic
crisis, according to an industrial leader.
"We are optimistic that the sales of desktop computer sets
will reach between 720,000 and 750,000 units in the year 2003 and
laptops about 120,000 units," G. Hidayat Tjokrodjojo, chairman of
the Indonesian Computer Entrepreneurs Association (Apkomindo),
said on Monday.
He said that in 2002, the sales of desktop computer sets in
Indonesia was estimated at about 600,000 units and laptops at
about 60,000. These figures indicated a 20 percent sales increase
on the previous year.
Branded desktop computers, like Hewlett-Packard and IBM,
contributed about 40 percent to last year's sales of desktop
computers and "generic" ones the remaining 60 percent, said
Hidayat, also the treasurer of the Indonesian Computer Software
Association (Aspiluki).
He said generic computers were those assembled domestically
with imported components. Some of them were sold with national
brands, like Zyrex, Mugen and Reliant, and some others with no
brand names.
The robust growth was supported partly by the implementation
of e-government by some provincial administrations after the
introduction of regional autonomy in 2001, Hidayat said.
"Regional autonomy created decentralized administrations. And
somehow it encourages them to introduce e-government," he said.
E-government is a breakthrough for regional administrations to
promote their services for now communications with them can be
conducted online. People can also get basic information about
their regions simply through the internet.
Hidayat said computer sets equipped with Intel's Pentium 3 and
Pentium 4 processors were more favored by buyers last year, as
compared to Celeron processors.
He said the 20 percent growth in sales for the year 2003 could
be achieved if the rupiah's value against the U.S. dollar
remained stable.
"It does not really matter on how much the rupiah's value will
be as long as it does not fluctuate," he said.
He said the increasing use of e-government by provincial
administrations as well as PDA (Personal Digital Assistants --
palm-sized digital organizers) and tablets (A-4 paper sized
touch-screen devices which can convert handwritings into computer
data) by executives would also help increase computer sales this
year.
"Up to now, only about 20 percent of provincial
administrations have used e-government and we expect many others
will follow suit," he said.
Hidayat also said that national brands, such as Zyrex, Reliant
and Mugen, would likely play a greater role in the domestic
computer sales this year as users were getting aware of their
competitive quality.
"In the past years, computers with domestic brands lost to
those imported from South Korea merely because they did not have
enough budget for big promotions," he added.