Asus turns focus to high-growth smartphone market

“This year, we are very focused on the smartphone market, as it is a high potential growth market. It is a very important market for us,” Jeff Lo, manager of AsusTeK Computer (Thailand), said yesterday.

The company has set an aggressive sales target of about smartphones this year. 

“Our major revenue comes from laptops while only 10 per cent comes from tablets. But this year, the revenue mix will be changed – 50 per cent laptops, 40 per cent smartphones and 10 per cent tablets,” he said.

The company plans to spend US$4 million (Bt129 million) on smartphone marketing this year.

“Smartphones are a little bit different from laptops and tablets, as they are consumer products, so we need to invest in this market a lot to build brand awareness as well as drive sales,” he said.

It also will expand sales channels to reach customers throughout the country. It presently has only the IT channel for laptops and tablets, but this year, it plans to add the mobile channel, both outlets and operators. Discussions with mobile outlets and operators are underway. It aims to have 6,000 outlets, both IT and mobile, by year-end. 

AsusTeK also focuses on products. Its smartphone is set to empower luxury at comfortable prices. It launched its first Android smartphone called ZenPone in three sizes – the four-inch model priced at Bt2,999, five inch at Bt5,999 and six inch at Bt8,999. They will all be available next month. 

“In the past, we did not focus on purely smartphones but we did the hybrid devices called PadFone and FonePad that was the integration of phone and tablet in one device. But now it is time to focus on smartphones,” he added.