There’s a new kid in town – this time it’s the third largest PC manufacturer in the world, Acer, which has finally decided to take on the Irish marketplace.
Acer in recent years acquired the Gateway computer company that used to manufacture PCs from North Dublin as well as Packard Bell, and while it is only number three in the world by a small margin after HP and Dell respectively, it actually is the number one PC notebook seller in Europe.
Europe is Acer’s biggest market and the company is number one in 13 markets, with an estimated 18pc market share.
Acer manufactures the full range of computing products from laptops and desktops to servers, handhelds, monitors, LCD TVs, projectors and digital cameras. Lately the company has embraced the fast growing ‘netbook’ market of ultra-small, low cost personal computers such as the AspireOne which sells in Ireland from €299.
The company also manufactures high-end gaming desktops and notebooks as well as business notebooks and notebooks for the digital lifestyle that sport Blu-ray functionality.
While most of Acer’s range come with Windows as standard, the company has stated that it will be pushing Linux aggressively on its laptops and desktops. The company is already featuring Linux in its AspireOne range as well as its media PC business.
John Roberts, product business director for Server & Storage in Europe, Middle East and Africa, who is in Dublin this week, told siliconrepublic.com that the company will be aggressively pushing products through the channel, with retailers like PowerCity, D.I.D., Harvey Norman, DSG and Click already aboard.
“This is the year where it starts,” Roberts said. “Within three years we envisage we will have 15pc share of the Irish computer market, and that is a modest projection.
“We think there’s going to be a major opportunity in Ireland because the position of some of the competitors we have here isn’t sustainable and doesn’t make any sense.
“We are going to empower people locally to go and sell to the market. We will be establishing a local office. We operate in a low operational expenditure environment so it won’t be an army of people but a small team that will work on facilitating the channel to go and sell the product.
“We aim to have every electronics retailer in Ireland taking delivery of our product and we’re working with local partners to open the market up to Acer’s technology,” Roberts explained.
By John Kennedy