Acer retains top ranking despite 8.3% decline in computer market

Dubai: Acer retained its number one position in the Europe, Middle East and Asia (EMEA) PC market in the third quarter of 2009 despite the overall market falling by 8.3 per cent to 25.94 million units compared with 28.3 million units in third quarter of 2008, according to figures from research firm Canalys.

Acer sold 6.63 million units with a market share of 25.6 per cent followed by HP with 5.27 million units and 20.3 per cent market share, Dell with 2.28 million units and 8.8 per cent market share, Asus with 1.86 million units and 7.2 per cent market share.

According to Natalie Spitz, Canalys senior analyst, Acer and Asus continued to lead the netbook market in the third quarter of 2009.

Acer, the second-largest PC vendor after Hewlett-Packard (HP), took 32.4 per cent while Asus took a 19.6 per cent share. But Samsung Electronics rose quickly with a 12 per cent share to take third place followed by HP with 11.6 per cent share, trailed by Toshiba's 4.2 per cent and Dell's 3.5 per cent.

Total netbooks sold are put at 3.7 million, registering a whooping growth of 69 per cent compared with 2.2 million units in the third quarter of 2008.

Mobility

"Mobility is the only growing segment in the IT industry while the desktop sales is eroding continuously in the PC segment," Krishna Murthy, Managing Director of Acer Computer, MEA, said.

The Taiwanese company last quarter overtook Dell to become the world's second-largest computer vendor by boosting sales of low-cost and low-power notebooks.

Murthy said Acer puts more thrust on innovation and today it is the first PC vendor to present software that makes it possible to create a 3D viewing experience on PC.

Multi-branding

Murthy said the achievements had happened due to its multi-branding strategy. It purchased Packard Bell and Gateway in 2008. "When we acquired these companies our market share was 10.2 per cent but this year our market share stands at 14 per cent."

"Acer is well positioned to overtake HP to become the number one PC vendor by 2011," Murthy said.

"Samsung may be a recent player in the mobile PC space, but we are quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with. The very positive acceptance our notebooks and netbooks has encouraged us to further enhance our offerings.

"We are looking at the netbook segment as a clear growth driver for our mobile computing business going forward," said Madhav Narayan, General Manager, IT division, Samsung Gulf Electronics.

"Consumers appreciate the full-size keyboard and long battery life that separates Samsung netbooks from our competitors," said Narayan.

Canalys said Samsung is currently using its partnerships with telecom carriers to expand its netbook share in EMEA markets quickly, according to market sources.

Digitimes Research also pointed out that Samsung and Asustek will both have a high ratio of netbooks in their total notebook shipments in 2010.

Samsung netbooks

Samsung's netbooks will account for 75 per cent of its total notebook shipments, indicating that netbooks will become an important product line for the company's future revenue growth, Digitimes Research said.

Spitz does not, however, expect Windows 7 to have an impact on business PC purchases this year. They will wait until the first half of 2010, at the earliest, to evaluate the software and let early adopters identify most of the problems."

Tim Coulling, a research analyst, said: "Microsoft needs to reposition the Windows 7 marketing campaign to put the business customer at the centre. The challenge is not to convince business buyers that Windows 7 is better than Vista or Snow Leopard, but that it is better than XP.

XP's future

"Microsoft has a self-imposed goal of discontinuing XP within a year and it is doubtful that even the majority of medium and large businesses, or the public sector, will have switched to Windows 7 by then.

"The campaign, and the new operating system, will have to be extremely successful, otherwise Microsoft may find itself needing to extend the XP lifetime again.

"Vista, on the other hand, could be dropped quickly without much protest," he concluded."