Bangalore, Sept 03: IBM India is betting on a combination of technology, sales and support to grow market share for ThinkPad — its notebook computers. The company wants a sizeable share of the promising notebook market. Notebook usage in India pales in comparison to mature markets. While the ratio between laptop and desktop usage is 1:2 in countries like US, it is 1:30 in India. High-cost is one of the prime obstacle for increased usage. Customers also pay a higher 40% duty on laptops. Market research firm IDC said the number of laptops sold in the country during second quarter of 2003 was 18,289. Of this, IBM India sold 5165 ThinkPads — second to its rival Hewlett Packard which sold 5,619 units. Mr Alok Ohrie, vice-president, personal computing division, IBM India, said its share in the competitive laptop market space is expanding. He added that in the first quarter of 2002, 1,729 ThinkPads were sold compared to 5,165 now. He expects laptop market to grow from 49,000 units last year to 65,000 by end 2003. Further, he said notebooks which last year cost around Rs 90,000 now cost Rs 75,000. Bureau Report