Acer ranked No.3 in pan-Europe computer market in 3Q

Taipei, Oct. 26, 2004 (CENS)--Acer Inc., Taiwan's largest brand computer maker, recently announced that its overall PC shipment volume to the pan-Europe region (including the Middle East and Africa) advanced to the No. 3 in the third quarter.

Citing statistics compiled by International Data Corp. (IDC), Acer said that its notebook PC sales in major West European markets continued to top all rivals in the third quarter, while its desktop PC sales enjoyed a 77.6% growth over a year-earlier period, the highest among all competitors.

Acer attributed the brilliant performance to Gianfranco Lanci, president of Acer EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, Africa) and the International Operations Business Group (IOBG) who will become Acer's global president next year. The company said that Lanci has successfully applied his successful experiences in the Italian market to the entire Europe market, making Acer the No. 2 notebook PC brand in Europe in the second quarter.

Lanci is also trying to copy his experience to Acer's desktop PC sales in Europe. In the third quarter, Acer ranked No. 3 in the branded-computer market, boasting a 42.7% year-on-year growth (compared with an annual average of 25%) and a 77.6% ratio in desktop PC business (compared with only an annual ratio of 10.7% in the line).

Acer used to rank No. 4 in the pan-Europe market. With a seven-fold growth rate than the market average, Acer jumped to the No. 3 in the pan-Europe market last quarter with a market share of 7.7%, trailing HP's 17.8% and Dell's 11.7%.

Acer used to concentrate more on notebook PC business, a strategy designed to win more trust from its European distribution partners. Acer said that it launched a series of aggressive sales campaigns in the second half, backed as it was by the capacity support from the new production lines at the Czech plant of Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co., the world's largest maker of barebone PCs, connectors and TV game consoles.

In the third quarter, Acer was the No. 1 notebook PC brand in Italy and Germany, the largest PC markets in Europe. In addition, the Taiwan brand enjoyed sales growth of 143.45%, 65.1% and 30.4% in France, Netherlands, and Germany, respectively, the highest in those markets, in the third quarter.

Major Computer Brands in Pan-Europe Market in 3Q
Rank	Brand	Market Share	Annual Growth
1	HP	17.8%	15.15
2	Dell	11.7%	36.4%
3	Acer	7.7%	57.5%
4	Fujitsu-Siemens	7.4%	19.7%
5	IBM	5.2%	13.2%

Source: IDC