I

ndonesia is Lenovo'€™s prime market in the Southeast Asian region, and has, therefore, become its key focus market globally, the device maker says.

It added that it aimed to grab first place in the local personal computer segment, while leaping positions in the tablet and smartphone zone.

'€œWe drive almost 30-35 percent of the overall volume in the Southeast Asian market,'€ Lenovo Indonesia country general manager, Rajesh Thadani, said.

He added that the performance of Lenovo in Indonesia had turned the country into a '€œkey focus'€ market not only at a regional level, but also worldwide.

'€œAnd there is a lot of growth potential. Indonesia has the fourth-largest population worldwide, with a sizable young population [...] it is what we are focusing on,'€ he said.

He added that the still low penetration of personal computers, tablets and smartphones amid this youthful population translated into untapped markets to further grow the company'€™s business.

Based on data from the International Data Corporation (IDC), Lenovo is within the top five brands in the three categories of personal computers, tablets and smartphones in Indonesia. The Taiwanese brand has, therefore, set bold targets for the market this year.

According to Thadani, Lenovo was the third-largest brand in the domestic PC market, controlling a 16.5 percent market share in the fourth quarter of last year.

He added that Lenovo Indonesia'€™s aim was to mirror the prime position the brand held globally.

'€œWe aspire to be the number one in the Indonesian personal computer market,'€ he said. '€œWe want to also be among the top two brands in tablets and top three in smartphones.'€

To achieve their targets, Lenovo Indonesia expects to continue releasing devices that address both the premium and mass-market segments of the market. '€œWe are mindful that in general, the bulk, or 65-70 percent, of the Indonesian PC market is for goods priced below US$500,'€ Thadani said.

He added that Lenovo sought to get a bigger share of the personal computer market through its multi-mode personal computers, or laptops that could function as tablets with a bend or a flip of a screen.

Similarly, Lenovo Indonesia was looking to cater to a range of price points in the smartphone as well as tablet segment, he said.

'€œAs a whole, the bulk of the Indonesian tablet market is for sub-$50 products while for smartphones, around 60 percent of the market is sub-$200,'€ Thadani said. In addition to introducing devices at various price points, Lenovo Indonesia is seeking to expand its retail channels.

He pointed out that Lenovo Indonesia did business with at least 1,000 stores, and core to this was the 400 multi-brand stores in which most sales were made.

'€œWe also run 30-35 stores which exclusively sell Lenovo products,'€ he added.

He said that this year, Lenovo Indonesia sought to add roughly 15 new exclusive stores mostly in the top seven cities. '€œOur top seven cities include Jakarta, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Bandung, Medan and Makassar.'€

He further said that although corporate customers would be affected by the overall economic slowdown and postpone purchases during this year'€™s elections, demand from the retail segment would remain strong as people continued to meet their device needs. Therefore, Lenovo Indonesia expects no slowdown in overall sales.

'€œAround 70 percent of the Indonesian personal computer [market] is consumer, and we are in-line with the market,'€ he said.