Europe May Go Through New Episode of PC Price Cuts

Those who wondered just what would happen now that Acer's former CEO joined Lenovo have received their answer, even if it is just a rumor about possible price cuts at this point.

Not long ago, it was announced that Acer's former chief executive officer Gianfranco Lanci had been hired by Lenovo as a consultant (Lanci said he left Acer because the board disagreed with his planned set of changes).

His activities are set to start with the integration of recently-acquired German company Medion.

The rumor mill, as one might expect, began to speculate on just what effect this all will have on the overall PC market.

Apparently, said effect has the potential of being much more far-reaching than anyone would expect at first glance.

Sometime earlier this year, Acer began to lower prices in order to digest its PC inventories.

Now that its former CEO has joined Lenovo's team, the possibility exists of this company focusing more and more on gaining market share.

In other words, Lenovo may start to more aggressively pursue larger share in Europe, meaning that it could adopt the same sort of aggressive price strategy, or something close to it.

Considering all this, there is every chance for a price war on the European market, starting in Germany (where Medion is based) and proceeding outward.

The happenings on other segments of the IT industry definitely offer extra reasons to adhere to this string of speculations.

Not only are DRAM chips (and, by extension, modules) sold for very low average prices, but even TFT-LCD panels have touched record low levels.

Of course, the rumors could just as easily prove to be a false alarm, not that there is anything to be alarmed about, since a price war, as far as consumers go at least, isn't actually bad.

Either way, time will tell just what direction the PC segment takes next.