14 DAY TRIAL // Competition on the global computer market is fierce and it gets worse as you climb closer to the very top. While getting on top of the market is hard, staying there is even harder as there are constantly aggressive companies coming from behind that seek to make their way to the top. While HP remains the incontestable leader of all computer manufacturers, a battle is in progress for the third place in line, a battle between two Asian companies: Acer and Lenovo.
Lenovo Group, a Chinese computer manufacturing company, just gained the third place in the global PC market, according to the marker research firm iSuppli who was cited by the news site digitimes. The Chinese computer manufacturer who is best known worldwide for its mobile computing state of the art devices shipped no less than 4.9 million computer systems worldwide during the second quarter of the year, meaning a net increase of 22.9 percent over the figures registered during the first quarter of 2007. This market share increase is promoting Lenovo as the fastest growing computer manufacturer among the ones that are part of the exclusive Top 5 producers. "Lenovo's sales were propelled by strong demand in the domestic Chinese market," said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst for computer platforms at iSuppli. "The company previously stated that it would deliver a stronger performance in the second quarter than it did in the first, and it duly delivered."
As the number of computer systems, both desktop and mobile ones, shipped by Lenovo is increasing, so does its market share on the global market as it went up from 6.4 percent in the first quarter to almost a full 8 percent during the second quarter of the year. This significant increase allowed Lenovo Group to take the third place in the global PC market, reclaiming the rank from the Taiwanese company Acer, which gained the third position during the first quarter of the year. "Acer's performance was better than the seasonal results of the overall PC market during the second quarter," Wilkins said. "However, the Top-5 PC OEMs enjoyed such strong results that even a very small sequential decline is against the trend we saw during the quarter." As Acer is planning an aggressive marketing campaign in both Europe and in the United States, Lenovo may soon find itself back on the fourth position, more so since Acer acquisitioned two important companies: Gateway and Packard Bell.
Among all computer markets, the Asian one is the most dynamic as the top three Asian companies - Lenovo, Acer and Toshiba - are competing at every level, while generating almost 57 percent of the combined American computer shipments as they were reported by the most important manufacturers HP and Dell. While the computer market is continuing its growth at a global level, the most dynamic sector remains the mobile computing one which registered an increase of 27 percent over the previous year.