Hewlett-Packard Co (HP), the world’s largest PC vendor, launched a new lineup of thin, lightweight notebook computers in Taiwan yesterday with the expectation that the category will gain more traction in the country.
In the second half of this year, HP plans to sell five new Ultrabook models in Taiwan that will run on Intel Corp’s new Ivy Bridge processors, while another lightweight laptop powered by AMD’s Trinity processor is scheduled to hit stores in the fourth quarter.
“We expect such products to account for 25 percent of our total notebook shipments in Taiwan by the end of this year,” Tony Chou (周信宏), vice president and general manager of HP Taiwan’s personal systems group, said at a product launch ceremony.
HP Taiwan forecast on Feb. 9 that its shipments would grow by 30 percent in Taiwan this year, saying that annual shipment growth would be much higher than the 7 to 8 percent forecast for the country’s overall PC market.
In the first three months, HP managed to regain some of its lost momentum in the Asia-Pacific PC market (excluding Japan), although its shipments declined 13 percent from a year earlier, according to market researcher IDC.
Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) continued to outperform its rivals in the region with a 21.8 percent market share, followed by Acer Inc (宏碁) at 12 percent, HP at 9.1 percent, Dell Inc at 9 percent and Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) at 8.2 percent, IDC said.
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