Acer aims for global No. 3 position

Acer expects to be the world's third largest PC seller by the end of 2008, with a 10 percent share of the global market and $20 billion in revenue, the company's chairman said Monday.

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To get there, it will have to increase revenue five times over last year's roughly $4 billion, expand its presence in the U.S., arguably the world's most competitive PC market, and displace the current global No. 3, Lenovo Group.

And Acer Chairman J.T. Wang says it's going to do so without any mergers or acquisitions, without innovation and without focusing on the Chinese market.

"We don't want to be a pioneer anymore," Wang said at a news conference at Acer's headquarters in Taipei.

"Innovation should not be respected so much," he added, explaining that some companies boast thousands of patents, but most don't have any commercial value. Innovation should be linked to commercial success, he said.

Acer plans to sit back and let others do the innovating, only engaging new products when they're an assured success. Then, the Taiwanese company will bring its global marketing and retail partnerships to bear and "we'll sell like hell," he said.

The company will grow sales at an annual clip of 40 percent to 50 percent over the next three years, Wang said, as it increases sales to the U.S., its new target market. Acer's sales there this year should reach $1.2 billion, as the same team responsible for its success in Europe works its magic there, he said. With solid groundwork in place, Acer could expand U.S. sales to $4 billion "very fast," he added.

Such fantastic growth in the cutthroat PC market might seem far fetched if Acer hadn't been on such a tear so far this year. The company's PC shipments during the second quarter grew 66.1 percent compared to last year, mainly due its ability to capitalize on two areas of strength, low cost PCs and European growth, according to market researcher IDC.

Acer ranked fourth in the world during the April-June quarter, with a 4.4 percent share of the global PC market, behind Lenovo's 7.5 percent, Hewlett-Packard's 15.4 percent and first-place Dell's 18.9 percent, according to IDC.

Its growth rate also represents a much faster pace than any of its front-running rivals. Lenovo's PC shipments only grew 8.1 percent on year last quarter, while HP rose 17.1 percent and Dell, 23.7 percent.

But Acer's rivals aren't likely to sit still as it seeks to increase sales.

"[Acer will] have their work cut out for them," said Brian Ma, a PC industry analyst at IDC in Singapore. Lenovo is in a strong position with its foothold in China and new base in the U.S., thanks to its purchase of IBM's PC division, he said.

Acer has been very aggressive, Ma noted, building relationships with distributors that will help the company reach new markets, and in the tech industry's hottest product, notebook PCs.

For example, Acer marketed a notebook computer in Australia for under A$1,000 (US$780) notebook computer early this year, helping it overtake Toshiba as the top seller there, he said.

"We definitely see Acer doing very well," he said.

China is not one of Acer's focal points this year. In fact, too much emphasis on China a few years ago hurt Acer, Wang said.

With just 23 million people, Taiwan's market is too small to help companies grow as fast as U.S. firms are able to, so many local companies view China as a second domestic market, due to cultural and linguistic similarities. With its huge market potential, many Taiwanese companies have made it the focus of their brand name strategies.

"But that kind of thinking does not help," said Wang. Companies need to focus on being globally successful, not just focus on China, he said. A change in thinking to focus on a global strategy has caused big changes at Acer, he said. Acer decided to become a global marketing company, and withdrew from contract manufacturing. It emphasized working with distributors and retailers, and growing demand, he said.

The company's main market is in Europe, and the promotion of an Italian, Gianfranco Lanci, to president reflects its importance.

Going forward, Acer plans to focus on five main products to drive towards its goal to reach the number three spot: notebook PCs, LCD (liquid crystal display) monitors, desktop PCs, a smart phone with GPS (Global Positioning System), and LCD televisions.