Acer Grabs World's Top Mini-Notebook Slot

Acer outdueled Asus in the third quarter to become the world's No. 1 seller of mini-notebook PCs, according to DisplaySearch and Gartner.

Though Asus essentially created the mini-notebook segment in late 2007, DisplaySearch reports that Acer was able to capture more than 35 percent of the market globally in the third quarter, stripping market share from its main rival. Gartner confirmed that the rivals have swapped market-share slots.

The so-called "mini-note" segment grew at more than a 160 percent clip in the third quarter, observed John Jacobs, DisplaySearch's director of notebook research. Demand was "especially evident in certain geographies where vendors are partnering with telecom providers to subsidize mini-note PCs, much like they do mobile phones."

Moving Past HP

Overall, third-quarter PC sales were punctuated by strong mini-notebook shipment growth on a global basis, led by robust shipments in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), observed Mika Kitagawa, a principal analyst at Gartner. She cited the popularity of mini-notes as a major reason why Acer succeeded in moving past Hewlett-Packard to become the EMEA's No. 1 PC maker in the quarter.

"EMEA PC market performance was largely dictated by vendors that shipped mini-notebooks and those that did not," Kitagawa said. Acer bolstered its PC shipments in the region by delivering a significant number of units "into the telco retail channel across Western Europe."

Both globally and within the EMEA region, Acer also benefited from the Taiwan-based company's acquisitions of Gateway and Packard Bell since the end of 2007.

"The last year has been crucial to us," said Walter Deppeler, a senior corporate vice president at the Acer Group. "The results achieved in EMEA are eloquent -- we are market leaders in 10 different countries for the total PC market, and for the notebook segment we are the top vendor in 16 countries." ...