The industries are going digital and consumers are also getting a hang of sharing data wirelessly.
With the ever evolving tech landscape how is Kingston keeping pace with the new demands and requirements?
Kingston has been known as a lifestyle technology brand associated with innovation. Talking about the booming Indian tech industry, it is one of the best business opportunities globally and we are optimistic for the year 2015. The dynamism in the consumer’s requirement in the county is something that we at Kingston have not only understood but acted upon.
Our energies and investments are channeled on getting more and more products that satisfy specific memory needs of both, consumers and corporates. Sensing the evolving gamer’s market, we introduced the HyperX Cloud gaming headset, our first product in the gaming peripherals segment. Also, taking cues from the positive customer response for our innovative products, we have recently introduced the DataTraveler microDuo 3.0, a faster dual USB drive for smartphones and also the MobileLite Wireless Gen 2, which enables you to smoothly share data on the go.
Going by the trends and forecasts, we have plans to extend our HyperX lineup for professional gamers, enthusiasts and high end users.
How is the storage market evolving?
The whole storage scenario in India is changing for sure. Like I mentioned earlier, the consumer market here is both large and volatile. The evolution is more in terms of the managing the spike in the level of data consumption. There are so many newer ways to generate data today that the need to store it efficiently becomes important. Another fact to supplement this trend is that the consumers are becoming much more aware about their systems and about the specific products available in the market for their requirements.
With the fast data growth rate, consumers have started inclining towards faster storage options like the USB 3.0 and Solid State Drives. We also run campaigns to educate corporates about the importance of quality and secure storage drives.
Which storage product is gaining the maximum traction and why?
The Kingston storage products and solutions are differentiated based on higher quality, the innovation involved and legendary customer service. With an evident shift in the consumer preference from USB 2.0 to USB 3.0, our new high speed drives like our DataTraveler R3.0 G2 and DataTraveler G4 are gaining maximum traction. Being able to attach a dual USB drive to the smart Android devices is a new and innovative concept and this brings traction to our DataTraveler microDuo and the new DataTraveler microDuo 3.0.
Moving specifically to the PC and server systems, the adoption rate for SSDs is growing by a good margin. With speeds of up to about 550 MB/s read and write, these are the best storage options, and the consumers have started understanding the importance.
What technologies you think will shape the storage market this year?
On a whole, larger adoption of the USB 3.0 and Solid State Drive technologies will be instrumental in shaping the storage market in 2015. They will set new minimum expectations in terms of high speed, durability and large capacity. Not just that, the industries are going digital and consumers are also getting a hang of sharing data wirelessly. Hence, the focus will be on USB 3.0, SSDs and Wireless Sharing of data.
What will be the company’s channel strategy for the coming year?
Kingston has always been a channel friendly company and they form a part of our success story. The Indian market has always been volatile and the sheer size and demand fluctuations make it a place for a dynamic mix of channel partners.
As a conscious brand, we will focus on building on our channel relations and engagements. We have plans to develop a better model of communication that gives us an edge. Along with our initiatives and promotional drives, we plan to strengthen our channel network. So on a broader scale, the channel market has been responsive for Kingston and we see a good potential to grow even more.
Elaborate on your go-to-market strategy for the coming year?
As mentioned earlier, Kingston recognizes the channel’s efforts and works closely with them for a better business relationship. Our sales and marketing efforts will be focused on reaching out to more end consumers. We are also strategizing on improving the footfalls in the shops and assisting the trade partners to target and reach a wider audience.
Which product will be the main area of focus?
We have seen a very good response for most of our products. However, in the coming year, you will see many more skews under our HyperX line of products. Just to give s short brief, HyperX products are the higher end products that include memory and flash based products. We also recently launched the HyperX Cloud gaming headset which was appreciated by the channel partners, consumers and also the media.
Which verticals are you gung ho about?
Our memory and storage products are compatible with all the types of systems, may it be datacenters, servers, corporate systems, PCs, laptops, Tablets and even smartphones. We are present in almost all the market verticals and will be focusing more on the corporates and consumer mobile segments in 2015. We already have introduced the high speed and high capacity SSDs, SDcards and microSD cards to start with.
What new products will hit the market in the coming months?
The year 2015 is going to be full of new products from Kingston and we are very excited about the same. You will soon see a number of products under the HyperX lineup. We are also strengthening our SSDs, bringing in more catchy USBs and also improving on our gaming headsets.
