Acer aims to become top laptop seller by 2011

Dubai: Acer is setting new goals and strengthening its foundation in an attempt to overtake Hewlett-Packard as the leading seller of laptops in the world by 2011, president Gianfranco Lanci said.

The Taiwanese company overtook Dell and became number two in the notebook segment last year after buying US computer maker Gateway in October.

The purchase also helped Acer overtake Lenovo as the third-biggest PC maker in the world.

Lanci said this year's PC market trend is similar to last year. The laptop segment is expected to grow by 10-12 per cent while the desktop segment is expected to remain flat.

"Last year, we earned $14 billion in revenue [not including the acquisition of Packard Bell and Gateway] and expect to record $18-$20 billion in revenue this year. This year, we expect to sell 30 million units, a growth of 40-50 per cent growth compared to last year," Lanci said in an exclusive interview to Gulf News.

Low-cost computers

Lanci denied media reports stating that Acer is expected to sell low-cost personal computers in the first quarter or starting of the second quarter.

He said Acer was still working on the plan and declined to give an exact time frame. He said all major vendors are expected to jump into low-cost PC bandwagon this year. Acer's low-cost PCs are expected to be priced between $299-$399.

"We expect low-cost PCs to not only be attractive in emerging markets, but will also open up the second PC market in mature markets, leading to surging growth over the next few years," he said.

This year, Lanci expects demand for low-cost PCs to be around 10-15 million depending on the availability and 20-25 million next year.

Intel expects low-cost PC shipments to break 100 million units between 2008-11.

"Linux is the ideal operating system for low-cost PCs. Windows Vista cannot run on these applications because it uses more than 1GB of memory. Vista is not the ideal solution for these but it is good for laptops and desktops," Lanci said.

HP, Asustek, Dell and Acer are the main vendors which have joined the low-cost PC bandwagon.

"The Middle East is a key growth market for us. We distinguish ourselves in the region by the speed of our growth and our superior ability to deliver the latest technology to business and consumer users faster than any of our rivals. The regional potential is very very big and it will last for many years," he said.

"We are looking at very nice growth in the first quarter, and it's coming from all the regions. The company gets 65 per cent of its revenue from notebooks, Lanci said.

Acer's current market share stands at nine per cent and is projected to be 11-12 per cent this year.