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Notebook manufacturers upbeat on sales prospects

Despite uncertainties over the outlook for the nation's economy, two local notebook computer manufacturers said yesterday they remained optimistic on sales this year.

One of the major players in the industry, Compal Electronics (仁寶電腦), exceeded its own expectations last year, said a staff member who wished to remain anonymous.

Compal sold 23 million notebook computers, even though sales last month fell approximately 20 percent when compared to November, he said.

So far, worries over the US economy do not seem to have affected sales of notebook computers, he said.

The dip in sales last month did not prevent an estimated 8 percent growth in the overall notebook market from the third to fourth quarter last year.

Compal believes the trend of replacing desktop computers with notebook computers would continue, with notebook computers growing at 25 percent to 30 percent while desktop computer growth would hover at between 5 percent and 6 percent, he said.

Compal is confident of another strong sales performance this year, expecting 30 percent growth to 30 million units, he said.

In line with Compal's estimates, the nation's leading notebook computer manufacturer, AsusTek Computers (Asus, 華碩電腦), is also predicting a better year, notebook products manager Jose Liao (廖逸翔) said.

Asus' entry level model, the Eee PC, has been very well received by the market and was the stellar performer at the year-end computer show in Taipei, a statement on the company's Web site said.

Even discounting sales of the Eee PC, Asus sold 350,000 notebook computers in Taiwan alone last year, Liao said.

Rival computer maker Acer Inc performed very well in Europe and Russia, but continued to be unable to catch Asus in the domestic market.

With the release of new products and a concerted advertising strategy, Acer only lagged behind Asus by 1 percentage point in market share, 32 percent compared to Asus' 33 percent, in the third quarter, market research conducted by IDC showed.

However, Asus believes its product line-up and customer service would enable it to obtain a 30 percent growth in sales this year and enable it to keep hold of its market share, Liao said.
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