IBM Taiwan's aggressive pricing strategy at the ongoing Info Month show is paying off, forcing competitors to cut prices in an effort to hang on to market share.
"Our sales saw tremendous growth at the show, and we generated more than NT$50 million just over the weekend," said Hamson Tseng (
The company is reporting a 10-fold sales increase in the first two days at the show compared with the same period last year, he said.
Variety and pricing are the main attractions for IBM, which is displaying 11 models below NT$50,000 in the show.
"This is the most competitive pricing IBM Taiwan has ever offered," Tseng said.
Big Blue's secret weapon, the PentiumIV-powered ThinkPad R2657, is priced at NT$39,900.
"We wanted to enlarge our market share so we attacked on the price front," he said
According to industry researcher Gartner, in the third quarter of this year, IBM ranked fourth in Taiwan's notebook PC retail market, holding a 14 percent market share.
That figure was 1 percent lower than Hewlett-Packard Taiwan, with a 15 percent share.
Local brands Asustek Computer Inc (
IBM made it clear that they want to topple numbers one and two.
"In this year's Info Month, IBM Taiwan will go head-to-head with Asustek and Acer," Tseng said.
The two Taiwanese companies vowed to fight back.
"Of course we can't let local companies lose face," said Karl Chen (
"Right after IBM Taiwan announced its pricing plan, Acer held a meeting and decided to cut prices further," he said.
Prices on the Acer TravelMate 273X were axed NT$5,000 from NT$44,900 to NT$39,900 to match the IBM ThinkPad.
Acer sold some 4,000 notebooks at last year's Info Month, and the company hopes to see at least a 30 percent jump this year, Chen said.
Market leader, Asustek, is also planning to trim prices.
"After three-days of study at Info Month, we are considering cutting our L3000TP from NT$46,800 to somewhere around NT$40,000," said Rex Liou (劉邦慶), a manager at Asustek.
Asustek was proud to learn IBM views Asustek as a major competitor, sparing at the international level, he said.
Talk of good prices has brought out buyers.
"We noticed consumers are more willing to spend at this year's Info Month," Liou said.
Market speculation began as early as October this year that IBM will offer very attractive bargains in the year-end Info Month. Many consumers put off purchases until the show, he said.
"The public's buying power has surged after months of belt tightening," Liou said.
According the Taipei Computer Association, the show's organizer, more than 110,000 visitors came to Info Month on Sunday, a record in the show's 23-year history.
The computer trade show is open from 10am to 6pm at Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Halls I and II through Dec. 8. The show will then move to Taichung, Tainan and end in Kaohsiung on Jan 13. Admission is free.
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