Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) has perched precariously at the #2 spot among the world's largest PC manufacturers after larger rival Hewlett-Packard Corp. (NYSE: HPQ) passed it as the #1 several years ago.While HP was beefing up its entire company to squish Dell further and further into irrelevance,Taiwan's Acer was busy cranking out new PC designs, buying the Gateway brand and becoming the #1 seller of product in the red-hot PC category of netbooks.
As a result, Acer passed Dell this week to become the world's #2 maker of PCs. While HP's global share teeters around 20% or so (varies by quarter), Acer lept to just over 15% in the latest quarter while Dell slipped to just below 13%. These figures change a bit based on which research house issues the numbers, but it's clear that Acer is beating out Dell at the moment.
Does it make any difference who is number two? No matter what bragging rights come with being a certain size (and the media headlines that come with it) shouldn't profit matter more than share? That's the economic argument any rational business should make, and Dell's using it quite wisely here.
Although Dell may be seen as a follower and a "me too" manufacturer at the moment, don't count them out just yet. Acer's been on a roll lately and HP's sheer size and breadth gives it a current advantage. But, if Michael Dell can follow through on his promises (the faster, the better) and innovate instead of recreate, Dell may be back soon with a huge vengeance.
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