14 DAY TRIAL // It is believed that, in the upcoming year, the market for portable computer systems will see a major competition between the current market leader HP and the world's third largest vendor of computer systems, Acer. The two companies will try to bring out the best products that, in turn, will allow them to claim the number one spot in the market. According to Acer's chairman, Mr. JT Wang, the company hopes that netbooks will play a crucial role in its quest towards reaching the number one spot in the notebook market.
According to a statement from Mr. JT Wang, cited by Digitimes in a recent article, Acer's range of netbook systems is expected to help the company claim the number one spot in the notebook market. These estimations are based on the fact that HP has a significantly lower representation in the netbook market, where Acer and its Aspire One system have recorded a major success.
Unless the Palo Alto, California-based HP does not change its policy towards netbooks, Acer could just become the world's largest vendor of portable systems, thus reaching the self-imposed goal earlier than the target timeframe of 2011. It is yet uncertain when Acer will attain the market leadership, but given the success rate of netbooks and the continued development of the technology, the PC vendor might just be betting on the right card.
Digitimes also reports on Acer's perspective on the expected impact of its netbook shipments of white-box netbooks. The company's chairman, Mr. JT Wang, is far from worried from this perspective, as he believes that the difference between prices for netbooks designed for the end market and material costs is of only 25%.
The netbook market is currently seen as one of the fastest growing segments in the industry, and all the more so as several major PC vendors have took up the ongoing trend, and have already released their versions of a low-power and ultra-portable PC.