14 DAY TRIAL // Acer is undoubtedly one of the worldwide leading notebook manufacturers - in fact, the company is currently holding the number three spot among all manufacturers across the globe. Because of this, it is also seeking to place itself as the number 3 US notebook vendor, thus taking the spot from competitor Apple. The company will try to do this with the help of its netbook product Aspire One.
As some of you might remember, Acer has launched its Atom-powered netbook during this year's Computex Show in Taipei. Upon launch, it was considered to be one of the best alternatives to the Eee PC, right next to MSI's Wind netbook. The success the company enjoyed with the Linux version of the Eee PC determined it to announce a Windows XP follow-up.
With the new product, Acer has set for itself an impressive sales target, in the same range as ASUS. The company aims to ship 5-7 million Aspire One XP netbooks globally within six months of its release this quarter. This could help Acer maintain its number three ranking in the netbook market and even advance to the third spot in the US segment. The Aspire One XP will launch on the Taiwan market at the end of July, during the 2008 Taipei Computer Applications Show, while US and European users will get it in August.
Digitimes reports that Acer's share in the US PC market increased after the acquisition of Gateway in the third quarter of 2007. However, because the shares of the Gateway brand continued to drop in the desktop market, Acer has seen a slow growth, despite the launch of Blu-ray notebooks in the second quarter of 2008.
Acer could also benefit from the release of Intel's Centrino 2 platform, which should boost notebook sales worldwide. As some of you might remember, the company announced last week a series of TravelMate and Aspire notebooks based on Intel's latest mobile technology.