Acer grabs No. 2 spot in PC market share globally

MANILA, Philippines - The global PC market in the third quarter showed signs of recovery based on separate reports from market research firms Gartner and IDC.

It is also a very good quarter for Acer, which finally overtook Dell to take the No. 2 spot in market share worldwide.

IDC reported a 2.3 gain in worldwide PC shipments while Gartner showed a 0.5-percent growth to 80.9 million units.

HP kept its leadership position with 19.9 percent of the worldwide market followed by Acer with 15.4 percent and Dell with 12.8 percent, according to Gartner.

IDC’s report, on the other hand, showed these companies with 20.2 percent, 14 percent and 12.7 percent market shares, respectively.

Acer Philippines sales director Agnes Espino told NetWorks that many factors contributed to Acer’s success, particularly the company’s multi-brand strategy, channel model and its various products, sales and marketing offers.

She also stressed that as of the second quarter this year, IDC and Gartner also showed Acer as the No. 1 total PC vendor and No. 1 total notebook PC brand in the country.

“Despite the ongoing mix of gloom and caution on the economy, the PC market continues to rebound quickly,” Loren Loverde, program director for IDC’s Tracker Program, said as part of the announcement.

“The competitive landscape, the transition to portables, new and low-power designs, growth in retail and consumer segments, and the impact of falling prices are all reflected in the gains by HP and Acer, as well as overall market growth,” she added.

These encouraging reports, coupled with the launch of the new Microsoft Windows 7 last Oct. 22, make industry watchers hopeful of an even better fourth quarter and 2010.

Acer already has a Windows 7 lineup of laptops from its Aspire family, which includes a multi-touch screen and a smaller ultra-portable PC.

The consumer market’s strong preference for portable PCs, especially netbooks, continue to account for the majority of volume and growth, said Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa.

Acer’s focus on low-cost netbooks also helped drive its sales up despite economic anxiety here and abroad.

Lenovo and Toshiba placed fourth and fifth in PC market shares, according to both IDC and Gartner reports.