Taiwanese PC maker Acer has its sights set on the world's top PC maker, Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ). In fact, the company predicted a 30% increase in notebook PC shipments for this quarter as it introduces a new lineup of low-cost notebooks. Acer, which picked up PC makers Gateway and eMachines in recent years, suddenly vaulted into third place behind HP and Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL). It's not longer satisfied with being third, apparently.In the netbook PC category, Acer's "One" netbook has been selling like crazy as consumers increasingly buy sub-$500 netbook PCs and shy away from more expensive laptop PCs. Calvin Huang with Daiwa Securities said that Acer is at least a few quarters ahead of its two larger competitors in releasing new products, giving it a great advantage. In Acer's fourth quarter, the company saw shipments climb 25% -- more than any other of the top-five PC vendors. HP shares in the last three months has fallen just a few points, and it won't likely move further based on Acer's bold predictions. But then again, Acer has come out of nowhere in retailer in the last two years to take a slew of market share from HP and Dell. Don't count its words out.
With Acer's new Timeline notebook -- a slim unit with a reported eight hours of battery life -- the company is pricing the new product at $799. This is just a little more than HP's Mini-Note 1233, but with a significant increase in battery life. Finally, PC companies may have to compete on meaningful consumer features like battery life instead of boring, commodity hardware specifications like RAM, processor speed and graphics capabilities. Mainstream customers need portability and battery life. Period.
Will Rich Ross really have a positive impact on Disney's movie operations?
Consumers sick of recession, may spend extra on holidays
Corrections, seasonality and Santa Claus
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-08-2009 @ 5:46PM
TruthBringer said...
I don't care what people think about Acer, I will never buy Chinese crap. I go for American, Japanese, or Korean, where they know how to make good products. I am fine with my Toshiba Satellite, I don't have to worry about it overheating, and it usually gets 6+ hours battery life. I would take it over Acer, Asus, or Lenovo (all chinese crap) anyday.
4-09-2009 @ 6:45AM
GMsux said...
It's ironic that 99% of American, Japanese or Korean brands are all made in China. Do you still think that your Toshiba Satellite is better than Chinese one? lol
7-25-2009 @ 11:48PM
GMsux said...
It's ironic that 99% of American, Japanese, or Korean products are all made in China. Do you still think that your Toshiba Satellite is better than other Chinese one? lol