Acer Inc (宏碁) announced yesterday the appointment of Red Peak Group chairman Michael Birkin as its chief marketing officer, saying he will energize and strengthen the Taiwanese company’s global marketing organization.
Red Peak, a global marketing services firm, will assign Birkin and other Red Peak members to perform marketing for Acer, Acer said in a statement.
As chief marketing officer, Birkin, 54, will lead Acer’s global brand marketing team and report directly to Acer chairman and CEO Wang Jeng-tang (王振堂), starting on Oct. 1, the statement said.
“In the product development stages, we will place marketing ahead of R&D and design,” Wang said in the statement. “Our precise understanding of customers’ needs will lead the way in products and services development.”
Acer said the company had assigned the incumbent chief marketing officer, Walter Deppeler, to chair a newly established marketing committee, which will be responsible for integrating Acer’s global branding and marketing strategy.
Acer’s move aims to enhance its global brand perception, because the company has lost market share to the Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) and Dell Inc to become the world’s fourth-largest PC brand in the second quarter. Hewlett-Packard Co remained the world’s largest PC brand, according to International Data Corp’s tallies.
Separately, Hewlett-Packard plans to unveil a line of touch-screen laptops running Microsoft Corp’s new Windows 8 software, including one model that can convert into a tablet.
The new machines, HP’s first to offer the latest version of Microsoft’s flagship operating system, will include the Spectre TouchSmart Ultrabook with a 15.6-inch high-definition screen, and the Envy x2, which features a detachable touch screen on a magnetic hinge, the US company said in a statement.
HP and other PC makers are racing to come up with innovative designs that can persuade computer buyers to opt for Windows machines rather than Apple Inc’s iPad tablet or laptops.
PC makers will also be competing with Microsoft, which plans to sell its own Windows 8-based tablet called Surface, which includes an attachable keyboard. HP plans to deliver a Windows 8 tablet for businesses by early next year.
The Spectre TouchSmart Ultrabook will be available in the US in December, starting at US$1,400. The Envy x2, which will be available “late” in the holiday season, will sell from US$800 to US$900, HP said. Its screen separates from the keyboard to become a tablet computer.
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