One of the nation's top personal computer vendors appeared to be less confident that Computex Taipei 2005 -- one of the top three information technology (IT) exhibitions in the world -- will be able to attract buyers this year, citing a lack of killer applications and shrinking IT spending driven by the slow global economy.
"We sense a decline in Computex's attraction for international buyers this year, due to the absence of new killer applications," Acer Inc's chairman Wang Jen-tang (
Wang also attributed the waning appeal of the exhibition to marginal growth in IT spending, because of the slow global economy.
Acer will maintain its presence at the trade show this year, Wang said, adding that the company, as the world's fifth-biggest PC vendor, no longer depends on the exhibition to expand overseas business, and instead uses its close ties with foreign distributors in markets worldwide.
Computex -- with 1,288 companies participating this year, down from 1,347 last year -- will run from Tuesday through June 4 at the Taipei World Trade Center's three exhibition halls, as well as the Taipei International Convention Center.
The trade show is expected to attract 27,500 foreign buyers this year, compared to 26,222 visitors a year ago.
Acer yesterday rolled out the latest notebook in its Ferrari series, the Ferrari 4000, in alliance with renowned Italian automaker Scuderia Ferrari. Acer hopes to lure Formula One fans and upscale consumers.
The Ferrari 4000 is equipped with a 15.4-inch thin-film-transistor monitor and AMD's 64-bit central processing unit and is priced at over US$2,000.
"We have marketed some 300,000 units of Ferrari-series notebooks around the world in the last two years," Acer senior vice president Jim Wong (
Acer said it hopes to sell over 100,000 units of the latest model after it hits the market worldwide next month.
The ambitious PC vendor also vowed to expand its global market share to 10 percent in the next two to three years, up from the current 4 percent.
Acer, which is the top laptop brand in Europe, is endeavoring to expand in the fast-growing Chinese market this year.
"We expect to squeeze into the top-five club in China's notebook market in the fourth quarter of this year or the first quarter of next year at the latest, after adjusting our market strategy," Wang said.
Acer hopes to ship a total of 10 million PCs this year, including 7 million laptops, with desktops making up the remainder. The company expects its total shipment to jump to some 15 million next year, driven by replacement demand for laptops, Wang said.
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