Acer confident notebook sales can exceed 15m

Acer Inc, the world's fourth-largest PC maker, said yesterday that its notebook computer shipments could easily surpass the 15-million mark this year.

"We shipped 1.9 million portable computers in a month recently. We will easily pass 15 million units for the whole year," said Scott Lin (林顯郎), president of Acer's Taiwan operations.

Prospects are bright, given strong seasonal demand in the second half and a revamped line-up of Aspire consumer notebooks, he said.

The company earlier projected full-year shipments of 13 million to 14 million units.

To maintain its growth momentum and achieve its aim of overtaking Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) as the world's No. 3 PC brand, Acer announced on Aug. 27 that it would spend US$710 million to acquire Gateway Inc in the US.

Despite market misgivings about the purchase, Lin said that the synergy would expand Acer's economies of scale, which in turn would boost its competitiveness, especially in the US.

"Gateway has already scaled back its work force to 1,600 to 1,700," he said, adding that future sales of the US firm's corporate business unit would further reduce its staff to 800.

This will make it easier to manage the US firm, compared with merging with other large-sized companies, he said.

The acquisition should therefore be completed smoothly, he said.

Meanwhile, the company said its recent advertising campaigns successfully reached out to potential buyers.

Acer spent nearly NT$100 million (US$3 million) in advertising campaigns to promote its new Aspire portable computers among home users in late June.

One of the product's main selling points is the inclusion of a Dolby Home Theater system, which produces virtual surround sound.

About 90 percent of a poll of 500 people conducted in the middle of last month knew the Aspire brand through TV commercials, said Calvin Chang (張敬仁), the company's marketing vice president.

Among those who knew the brand from advertising, 11 percent said they remembered the commercial for its Dolby system feature, while 3 percent referred to the Intel dual-core platform, he said.

"Two years ago, our survey, held in more than 10 major cities around the world, showed that consumers were highly disappointed by the sound system of notebook computers. Our partnership with Dolby allow us to offer a change," Lin said.