Dubai: Toshiba is not keen on relaunching smartphones again and will focus only on computes and tablets, a top official told Gulf News.
Dubai: Toshiba is not keen on relaunching smartphones again and will focus only on computes and tablets, a top official told Gulf News.
Many vendors are moving to the PC plus era — computers, laptops, smartphones and televisions — as connectivity among devices is gaining traction.
“There is no point in leaving our core sectors and [running] after the smartphone segment, which we have left before,” said Santosh Varghese, regional general manager of computer systems division at Toshiba Gulf.
Currently Toshiba has a market share of 14 per cent in the Gulf.
“We lost around four percentage points of market share in the last two quarters. Bigger markets like the UAE and Saudi Arabia have shrunk amid falling prices. We don’t want to be in the price game and will focus only on quality products,” he said.
He said Gitex is always better than the previous year. If the trend continues “we expect our sales to rise 20 per cent [from] last year”.
“We (Toshiba) are seeing no demand on tablets as every retailer is bundling cheap tablets with offers for free. Demand is still on in the mid-range touch notebooks and detachables,” he said.
He said the UAE market has become highly seasonal. Starting with Gitex in October, then the Dubai Shopping Festival, Gitex Spring in April, a little bit on Dubai Summer Surprises and then the market is flat.