Sony looks at doubling sales of Vaio notebooks

With consumer notebook sales in India estimated to touch 12.5 lakh units by June next, electronics major Sony is expecting to double its sales to Rs 1,000 crore in FY ’10, a top company official said.

“The consumer notebook segment (laptops, netbooks, pocket PCs) are growing fast in India. In FY ’10 (starting this May), Sony intends to achieve a 20 per cent market share in this segment and double the sales to 2.5 lakh units,” Sony India’s Managing Director Masaru Tamagawa told reporters here on Tuesday.

Sony India had sold about 1.2 lakh units of different models of its Vaio notebooks in FY ’09 ending May, Mr. Tamagawa said. The sales stood at around Rs 520 crore.

Last year, the market was pegged at Rs 4,000 crore with 10 lakh units of consumer notebooks sold across the different brands and this year it is expected to touch Rs 5,000 crore.

Mr. Tamagawa said that Sony, which had its Vaio models in the premium segment earlier, wants to tap the potential in the mass segment.

The company on Tuesday launched its range of Vaio E Series laptops starting at Rs 34,000.

“The E Series models are designed keeping in mind everyday ease-of-use and the youth. These are affordable, light in weight, easy to carry and use and also comes in vivid colours, which makes it more appealing,” Mr. Tamagawa added.