Singer Laptops For Rs. 2,999

Left to right: Sriyan De Silva Wijeyeratne, Hemaka Amarasuriya and Indika De Zoyza with models at the launch. and Nasser Majeed (Photos by Asoka Fernando)

Singer Sri Lanka Plc, the country’s number one people’s brand for the past five years, launched its own laptop computers to the local market on Thursday.
Equipped with the latest Microsoft Windows 7 operating system and powered by current Intel processors, the hardware which is of Taiwanese origin, is arguably the cheapest notebook in the market.
Branded  as the Singer X series, this blue chip company offers the consumer three models to chose from, namely Sin-X450W7 at Rs. 44,900 a unit;  Sin-X4400W7 (Rs. 74,990) and SIN-X3330W7 (Rs.89,990) respectively.
What is convenient in buying Singer branded products is their easy payment schemes, with the Sin-X450W7 available to the consumer after making an initial nominal down payment and the balance payable in monthly instalments of Rs. 2,999 each; the Sin-X4400W7 in monthly instalments of Rs. 4,999 each and the Sin-X3330W7 in monthly instalments of Rs. 5,999 each.
The company which is the leader in the home appliances market, generates more than 50% of its business through its easy payment schemes.
Singer’s entry into the notebook market was after three years of research and study.
With I.C.T. penetration in the country low, the company’s Marketing Director Nasser Majeed was confident of its success. Singer with its 360 strong islandwide branch network, will make a push in the provinces to sell its notebook computers.
One of the few companies to have had recovered from the economic downturn (its Chairman Hemaka Amarasuriya attributes this to hard work, coupled with cost cutting and waste elimination), the company has as its objective to provide a laptop to everybody.
“Companies like us are careful when we go to new product areas, so we waited for the best time to launch this product to our consumers,” Amarasuriya speaking at the unveiling of this new product line said.
“Any product launch to me is magical, because you are putting in place something new,” he said. Every household has a Singer product, though it may be only a bottle of oil, Amarasuriya said.
“We want to take this product to the rural outlay and we are confident that we can make it happen,” he said.
Microsoft Country Manager Sriyan De Silva Wijeyeratne in his speech said that the i.c.t. and p.c. markets are gearing for growth.
“I can’t think of a more exciting time to launch a product when this country is gearing to run at a pace it has not seen before,” he added.
De Silva Wijeyeratne said that “Windows 7,” in the short period of eight months since its launch, has seen over 100 million units sold.
Intel Country Business Manager Indika De Zoyza in his speech said that he was confident that i.c.t. penetration by 2012 would grow to over 60% , and among the country’s four million students it will increase to 85% by 2012.
In this score, a note said that the Singer Mobile I.C.T. Knowledge Bus which can host about 25 children at a given time and is equipped with a range of p.c.s and laptops with internet facilities, a multi media projector, screen and technical assistants for teaching has proved to be a success, having had visited more than 800 outstation schools.
“The opportunity is huge, Singer has 360 outlets, what we need are cheap affordable products,” said De Zoyza.
Majeed in his speech said that their target audience includes the young student, the housewife and the small entrepreneur to join the global village of information and social networking sites.
Singer’s objective is to make available technology to every home and he concluded his speech by saying, “Than Singer nisa katath laptop.”