Carphone Warehouse has revealed that it is in talks with several leading
laptop manufacturers as it seeks to increase its share of the
laptop market . With the laptop market forecast to grow by 35 per cent to sales of five million this year, up from 3.7 million last year, the
Carphone Warehouse is eager to take advantage of this growth.
At present, the Carphone Warehouse only sells
Dell laptops alongside its own AOL
broadband deals, with the
notebook coming free as part of the package. A
Dell laptop is also available through the vender with
USB dongles from
mobile phone networks 3 or
T-Mobile . However, the Carphone Warehouse is understood to have held talks with the likes of
Apple,
Sony and
Toshiba in recent weeks as it seeks to broaden its product range.
Dongle sales have increased hugely in recent months, with sales more than twice the level of September 2008. Sales are up to 25,000 per month on contract and prepay, accounting for as much as 40 per cent of sales in some stores.
The Carphone Warehouse are understood to have a business model which seeks to instil the same subsidies model in the laptop
PC market as there is in the
mobile market.