Acer (company)

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Acer

Type	Public
Founded	1976
Founder	Stan Shih
Headquarters	Taipei, Taiwan
Industry	Computer
Products	Laptops, Computer display
Subsidiaries	Acer Computer Australia, Acer India
Website	www.acer.com

Acer (LSE: ACID) (Chinese:宏碁股份有限公司) is a Taiwan based company which by 2004 had grown to be one of the world's top five branded PC vendors. It owns the second largest computer retail chain in Taiwan, Acerland, second only to Asus. Acer's product offering includes desktop and mobile PCs (laptops), servers and storage, displays, peripherals, and e-business solutions for business, government, education, and home users.

1 History
2 Operations
3 Products
4 Competitors
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

Multitech, which was founded by Stan Shih (施振榮) in 1976, was renamed Acer in 1981. The global headquarters is in Sijhih City, Taipei County, Taiwan. In 2002, the pan Acer Group employed 39,000 people supporting dealers and distributors in more than 100 countries. Revenues reached US $12.9 billion that year. In 2000, Acer spun-off its manufacturing operation to focus on developing technologically advanced, user-friendly computing. In deciding to support the sales of its product lines through specific marketing activities that best utilise distribution channels, Acer grew worldwide while its labour force contracted. By 2005, Acer employed 7,800 people throughout the world while maintaining a global sales and service network. Revenues were US$4.9 billion in 2003[1] and US$7 billion in 2004.

[edit] Operations

Acer's subsidiary in Australia is Acer Computer Australia, which apart from being third in the Australia's PC desktop and notebook market, is the leading vendor in key segments such as government and education.

Acer's subsidiary in India is Acer India, which apart from being top in the overall PC desktop and notebook market, is the leading vendor in key segments such as education.

Acer's North American market share has slipped over the past few years while the European market share has gone up. Much of their success in Europe can be attributed to their ongoing association with the Ferrari Formula 1 Team and the former F1 team, Prost Grand Prix in 2001. They have recently broadened the scope of their relationship with Ferrari by announcing they will sponsor the Formula One team until 2008.

Acer is the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region leader in the notebook sector, holding 18% market share in Q1 2005. Confirming its leadership in the EMEA notebook market, in 2005 Acer ranked first in 13 countries: Italy, Spain, Austria, The Netherlands, Switzerland, The Czech Republic, Russia, Portugal, Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. Europe was the company's biggest market in 2005[2].

Acer America Corporation, which serves North and South America, markets technology products designed and engineered by Acer Inc. The product line includes TravelMate notebook computers and convertible Tablet PCs with Intel Pentium processors, wide-screen Aspire multimedia notebooks and Ferrari notebooks notable for a bright red chassis. Acer America also markets a full range of Veriton business desktops, AcerPower and Aspire value desktops, Altos servers for the enterprise, and both LCD and CRT displays.