Corsair is a well-known name in the PC enthusiast and gaming community, known for high speed RAM, reliable high wattage power supplies and gaming mice. The company's Director of Sales for Asia was recently in Mumbai to announce Corsair's (re)entry into high-end PC peripherals, and we got speak with him on a variety of topics such as the 'post-PC era'. He also talks about how Corsair plans to tackle competition in India's price-sensitive market.

Looking at the fact that Corsair's business is mainly PC centric; does it worry you that the world is moving to mobile devices? How does Corsair plan to handle that?
It doesn't worry us at all. I think it will worry Intel more because this will affect that company the most. I think desktops will continue to be around, regardless of the higher adoption rates of mobile computing devices. The reason for this is that productivity is still better on the desktop rather than a tablet. Also, you cannot play popular high-end games on tablets and most laptops. The PC is becoming like a multimedia hub these days, and tablets can be a means of consumption, but the best experience can only be achieved on the desktop PC itself. The desktop also has the advantages of being more configurable, upgradable, and having the best performance.

Is Corsair doing anything with Windows 8 devices in mind such as docking keyboards?
Not in the next 18 months as far as I know. I must add that eventually, that may happen.

How is the market for high-end PC peripherals in India?
It is very small, but growing. The main reason is the high prices associated with such products.

Who are Corsair's primary competitors in India and how does the company plan to stay ahead?
We have competitors such as CoolerMaster and Antec in the power supply units (PSU), coolers, and PC cabinets region. ADATA, OCZ, Intel, Patriot, Crucial, and PNY compete in the memory and SSD space, while Logitech, Razer, and Skull Candy have gaming peripherals such as keyboards, mice, headsets, etc such as we have. However, we don't have a single competitor that competes against us across the different segments and that's where we are different. Rather than competing against our competitors, we want to follow a better approach of working with them to increase the size and reach of this tiny market as that will be good for everyone.

Considering that India is a budget market, what is Corsair's strategy to still be able to sell its often expensive products?
We do understand the price sensitivity of the Indian market and have specific product strategies for the country. We are aware that there is an onslaught of Chinese products that are really low priced and appeal to the consumers, although they cannot come close to our products with sheer performance. We have therefore tried to compare what they provide and create products with certain features removed to reduce cost. We relied on consumer feedbacks to decide what feature will go unused and is therefore not desirable, thus providing an opportunity to do away with it without sacrificing our product value and performance. PC cabinets, for example, with less number of fans, or with less fancy exteriors, but with a good build quality are available for lower prices. A very good example of this would be our VS and CX series of PSUs that provide reliable power with high efficiency, but at a price lower than our HX, AX, GS, and TX series that cater to the higher end segment with additional features such as industrial grade components, LED fans, modular design, and digital monitoring.

Does Corsair have any plans to expand its products portfolio? If yes, what new products can we expect in the near future?
We are looking to foray into audiophile products over the course of the next 12 months. We already have a few audio products, but these are mostly for gamers. The new products will be for the serious audiophile and will include speakers, headphones, and amplifiers, among other things. We have got a digital audio division dedicated towards that goal. Of course, this is not related to the PC in any way, so they will not be PC peripherals.

Tags : PC Peripherals, Gaming, Corsair