THE laptop market may be highly saturated, but that did not stop Singaporean start-up Axioo International from launching its own made-in-Singapore brand last week.

Stephen Lim (below right), the managing director of Axioo, has set an ambitious target - to sell 100,000 units across 12 countries in the region by year's end to gain a five per cent market share in an extremely competitive industry dominated by giants such as HP, Dell, Lenovo and Acer.

The countries that Axioo is targeting this year are Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Australia and New Zealand.

Stephen added that Axioo is mainly targeting consumers and small and medium- size business customers in emerging markets where adoption is still low.

If it succeeds, that would likely place the company in the top 10 list of laptop makers in the region, according to Bryan Ma, research director of personal systems at IDC Asia-Pacific.

However, with the predicted 6.8 million units to be shipped in the region, Axioo's 100,000 units would make up only about 1.5 per cent of the market share, Bryan added.

Axioo showcased its first two laptops at the launch last week. The laptops, to be available for sale in Singapore from next month, are the Zetta Ten series which starts from $1,299 and the Zetta TEC series from $1,799.

Stephen said that he is currently talking to about 30 retailers at Sim Lim Square and Funan DigitaLife Mall, but added that the big electronics superstores such as Best Denki, Harvey Norman and Courts are not in his sights at the moment.

Although both laptops are competitively priced, Stephen stressed that the company is competing not on price alone, but more importantly, on design and a better user experience.

And Stephen has an even more ambitious target - for Axioo to make its one millionth laptop by the end of 2010.

To make its dream a reality, Axioo has already invested $3 million into its Singapore office and manufacturing facility in Kaki Bukit.

Currently, the plant can produce 500 units per day, but Stephen added that the company will invest $7 million more to increase its production capability and to develop research and development into industrial design and reducing component costs.

IDC's Bryan added: "Laptops are in a consumer market where brand name and industrial design make a big difference. For start-ups, it might be a challenge to develop good design and it takes time to develop a strong brand name."

Axioo's laptops are assembled in Singapore with parts and design from elsewhere, but if its research efforts take off, it aims to launch laptops of its own design.

According to Stephen, the Axioo brand of laptops has been sold in Indonesia since 2004 by an Indonesian company, PT Terra Computer System, whose shareholders have now set up Axioo International in Singapore as its base for international expansion.