Acer eclipses Lenovo, takes aim at Dell

Acer has passed Lenovo Group as the world's third largest PC vendor with its
purchase of Gateway, and now it's gunning for U.S. giant Dell.

Next year, Acer could take up to a 12 percent share of the global PC market,
putting it in the position to challenge Dell, said J.T. Wang, chairman of Acer,
at the company's third quarter investors' conference in Taipei on Friday.

Shipments by Acer have been growing fast this year due in part to a focus on
laptop PCs, the hottest segment of the PC market, and the company's strategy
of working closely with distributors.

Acer's shipments grew 58 percent year over year in the third quarter, according
to Gartner. The Taiwanese PC vendor accounted for 8.1 percent of global PC shipments
during the quarter, compared to its 5.9 percent share during the same time last
year. The figures do not include Gateway, which Acer bought for US$710 million
last week.

Dell's unit shipments grew 3.5 percent during the quarter, but it still lost
market share compared to last year, finishing in second place at 14.4 percent
compared to 15.9 percent.

Hewlett-Packard kept its title of the world's biggest PC vendor by shipments
during the quarter with an 18.8 percent share, compared to a 16.1 percent share
a year earlier. Lenovo, the fourth place vendor, took an 8 percent share, compared
to 7.5 percent last year. Market researcher IDC puts Lenovo ahead of Acer according
to its third-quarter PC shipment figures.

"We believe we can maintain strong growth momentum through 2008,"
said Wang.

Acer forecasts it will still grow by a double-digit figure next year, and faster
than the global PC industry. Executives also said the fourth quarter of this
year looks to be a good quarter, with no indication of a decrease in demand
for PCs.

"We have not seen any slowdown. Demand is still quite good," said
Gianfranco Lanci, president of Acer. He forecast unit shipments to grow 10 percent
to 20 percent over the third quarter. The company did not say how many PCs it
sold in the third quarter, but Gartner puts the figure at nearly 5.55 million
units.

In the fourth quarter, Acer will also start adding Gateway shipments to its
figures, which will add to its market share.

Gateway sold only 865,000 PCs in its biggest market, the U.S., during the third
quarter, down from 1.01 million the same time last year, according to Gartner.
Lanci believes a stronger laptop PC lineup will boost Gateway's market share
figures in the U.S. going forward because the mobile PC is the hottest segment
in the industry. New Gateway laptops could be out as early as the first quarter
of next year.

And Dell isn't sitting still. Efforts to turn around its business finally paid
off this quarter when its worldwide unit shipments rose for the first time in
four quarters. It's a huge company with a lot of resources and could still turn
itself around. Acer's executives said size was becoming ever more important
in the global battle for PC market share because bigger companies can force
suppliers to cut their prices. That means Dell, as the second biggest PC maker,
is still in a strong position.

IDG News Service

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