Panasonic India eyes 65% market share in rugged mobile solutions by 2025

The System Solutions Division of Panasonic India, which offers a comprehensive range of rouged productivity solutions for enterprises, has expanded its offering with the launch of a new Android Toughbook. The company, which dominates the ruggedized tablets and laptops market with about 60 per cent share and over 500 enterprise customers in India, has strengthened its product portfolio with the launch.

"Once you hit the ceiling of 60 per cent, it is important to retain that market share and grow along with the market. Increasing market share from here would be an uphill task but obviously, the aspiration is to increase our market share by another 5 per cent in the next three to four years," Vijay Wadhawan, Director of System Solutions Division at Panasonic India, told BusinessToday.in.

Panasonic India's ruggedized offerings are categorised into three segments -- Windows 10 laptops of 12.1-14 inch, tablets ranging from 4.7 inch to 10.1 inch on Windows and Android platforms, and two-in-one detachables. The company caters to governments as well as enterprises.

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It has delivered 3,500 rugged tablets to Uttar Pradesh Police, while many other state police and fire departments also use it. The Toughbook series is used in defence, logistics utility and manufacturing. Panasonic has witnessed a 10 per cent growth in Toughbook business over the last year, with demand primarily coming from pharmaceutical, automotive, defence and government verticals.

"India continues to be a key market for us as it presents diverse opportunities in the form of manufacturing, smart cities and varied industrial applications. With nearly 60 per cent market share, we have seen significant demand for Panasonic rugged devices arising from manufacturing, emergency services, automobile, pharmaceutical, logistics, power, and utility sectors as businesses rapidly embark on digital transformation, adopting new-age technologies such as cloud, IoT, data analytics, etc. In light of smart factories becoming a reality, we expect this trend to continue," says Hiroaki Yamamoto, Divisional Managing Director, System Solutions Division, Panasonic India.

Priced starting Rs 98,000, the new Toughbook FZ-S1 tablet operates on Android Enterprise for application safety, reliability, and management for businesses. It is equipped with a simple click and switch design for warm swapping batteries, IP67 certified and can work in extreme weather conditions ranging from minus 20 to 50 degee Celsius.  

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