Asustek beats notebook rivals to take top spot

Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) was the top notebook computer maker in Taiwan in the first half of this year, enjoying a domestic market share of nearly 30 percent, according to a report by the International Data Corp (IDC).

Asustek, which competes with more than 20 other Taiwanese companies supplying brand-name products to the likes of Dell Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co, is increasing sales of its own brand of motherboards and notebook computers, which earn the company more money than those it makes for other manufacturers.

Massachusetts-based IDC said Asustek outperformed other domestic and foreign laptop makers, selling about 40,000 units during the first six months and grabbing a market share of 29 percent.

Acer Inc came in second position in the domestic market by selling more than 29,000 notebook computers over the same period of time, with a market share of 20 percent.

The company last week named Milan-based Gianfranco Lanci as president, an appointment that signals its ambitions to expand its global market share. Acer has predicted it will increase its share of the global PC market to third-largest within three years from the existing fifth largest.

Acer was followed by the In-ternational Business Machines Corp (IBM) which sold over 20,000 laptop PCs for a market share of 15 percent, while Hewlett-Packard Corp (HP), the world's No. 2 personal-computer maker, sold only 12,000 units during the same period of time, reflecting its declining market share that has dropped to less than 10 percent, according to IDC.

In recent years, laptop vendors have often waged pricing wars in a bid to stimulate demand. During the second quarter this year, a traditionally slow season, vendors cut prices in droves in an effort to pep up a market affected by a slumping stock market and political disturbances following the presidential election in March.

Even so, foreign laptop PC makers have steadily grabbed a market share of about 25 percent in the Taiwan market, while the leading three Taiwanese makers -- Asustek, Acer and BenQ Corp (明基電通) -- have enjoyed a market share of about 55 percent, said a Taiwanese executive at IBM, the world's largest computer maker.

Taiwanese computer users are highly loyal to the five leading brand names, the IBM executive said. He pointed out that the three Taiwan-based companies are competing hotly against one another, while the two US-based rivals have been vying against each other for a larger slice of the Taiwan pie.

Personal-computer sales worldwide will lag forecasts by about a million units this year as concerns about oil prices and the economy curb purchases, Gartner Inc analyst George Shiffler said earlier last month. Sales of desktop and laptop PCs will rise 12.6 percent from last year to about 185 million units, Shiffler said.