Despite Taiwan-based Acer Inc (宏碁) unseating Dell Inc to become the world’s second-largest PC maker, the leading Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) yesterday said it was unfazed by the competition and would bet on standard notebook offerings to differentiate itself from rivals.
“Different companies have their own strategies, and we focus on standard notebooks to cater to consumers,” Monty Wong (王漢彪), vice president and general manager of HP Taiwan Ltd, told a year-end media gathering.
Last year, a number of notebook vendors, such as Acer and Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), aggressively promoted a flurry of netbook computers — a stripped-down notebook with smaller screens and simpler functions — in view of sluggish economic spending.
Wong said HP, however, would not bet only on netbooks to capture market share. The company will continue to win over consumers with products that offer “reasonable pricings, better quality and enhanced technology.”
Recent tallies released by industry tracker International Data Corp showed that HP was the leader in worldwide PC shipments in the fourth quarter, with market share at 21 percent. Acer was No. 2 at 13.4 percent, Dell came in third at 12.4 percent and China-based Lenovo Group (聯想集團) was fourth at 9.2 percent.
HP, which procures more Taiwanese electronics products than any other foreign firm, will post procurement growth this year, HP Taiwan managing director Felix See (施志國) said.
See declined to offer a figure, but said the company would continue to enhance cooperation with local partners.
HP procured US$20 billion in local electronics products last year.
Meanwhile, Acer founder Stan Shih (施振榮) said yesterday that US computer brands may be gone in 20 years’ time because of an inability to produce the low-priced PCs the market demands.
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