Taiwan's Acer Inc, the world's No. 3 computer vendor, influenced by Eee PC and its great success among the low-cost laptop PCs, will try to accomplish the same results by introducing its own tablet. Acer, which previously said it had not planned to sell cheap notebook computers, has changed course to develop PCs to target a new customer base, the Chinese-language Commercial Times quoted company Chairman J.T. Wang as saying. The company plans to launch low-cost laptop PCs in the second or third quarter of this year, according to an unknown report. The report also notes that Acer was still developing the new model, which could be 7-9 inches wide, and could cost around $470. Acer of course declined to comment on the report, since there haven't been written proof of something final.

Whilst HP may be the top global computer brand, Dell has retained its crown in the US market, accounting for 29.6% of sales. Dell managed to ship 5.5 million units, which represented a 15.2% year-on-year increase, with HP in second place selling 4.5 million units, a figure which gives it a 24.3% market share. Acer took third spot following its acquisitions of Packard Bell and Gateway last year, with sales of 1.5 million units - up 294.2%. Apple was fourth in the US with 1.06 million units, ahead of Toshiba in fifth. Global sales saw HP commanding a market share of 23.3%, with Dell on 14.6%. Acer, Lenovo and Toshiba came in third, fourth and fifth respectively.

Taiwan-based notebook vendors Acer and ASUSTeK Computer have both advanced one rank to become the second and eighth largest notebook vendors in the world, respectively, according to a recent IDC report. Among the top-ten worldwide vendors, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Acer and ASUSTeK were the only vendors who saw on-year growth of over 60% in the second and third quarters of this year. Acer had notebook shipments of 4.15 million units in the third quarter, surpassing Dell's 4.01 million, while ASUSTeK shipped 1.22 million notebooks. Acer adopted a new strategy in the third quarter, separating its product lines into consumer and enterprise segments. The move brought its notebook market share up to 14.2%, noted IDC. Sony dropped to ninth position in the third quarter this year while Apple and Fujitsu both strengthened their performance in the high-end market. Sony saw large losses in the high-end market and turned to push its mainstream CE series notebooks to maintain sales performance.

Acer, which has been focusing on the consumer market and fighting for space in retail stores, is turning its attention back to the North American small- and midsized-business market. On Dec. 20, the Taiwan PC vendor announced that it would begin selling its low-cost Extensa 4620 notebook into the North American market for the first time. The 14.1-inch laptops come equipped with either an Intel Core 2 Duo or a Pentium dual-core processor. Acer, which has its U.S. headquarters in San Jose, Calif., is also keeping its prices down for the Extensa notebooks. The Pentium-based laptop starts at $699 and the Core 2 Duo machine starts at $799, according to Acer. The aggressive pricing of these SMB notebooks should allow Acer to continue competing against the bigger names in the market-in particular, Hewlett-Packard and Dell-as well as against other Asian-based PC vendors, such as Toshiba.

Influenced by ASUS and Eee PC, Acer has begun to change its attitude toward the low-price PC market and the company recently formed a team to begin working on projects for the sector, according to Scott Lin, president of Acer Taiwan. However, Lin highlighted that the company has not yet budgeted any R&D funds for the low-end PC project and Acer will still focus on its typical notebook product lineup in 2008. To launch a low-cost PC or not is a matter of economic scale, indicated Lin, adding Acer expects global notebook shipments to reach 120 million units in 2008 with ASUSTeK Computer's Eee PC only accounting for 2-3% of the overall market. The actual market for low-cost PCs is still uncertain, Lin pointed out, and this is the major reason that the company is still considering whether to launch products. Lin also stated that the technological barriers towards developing a low-cost PC are not high and so Acer should be able to launch suitable products once the company completes its feasibility evaluations.

In a battle between two of the largest PC manufacturers in the world, Acer is again suing Hewlett-Packard over alleged patent violations. The suit, filed on October 30, 2007 in a District Court in Wisconsin and the United States International Trade Commission, accuses HP of violating seven patents related to PCs, servers and peripheral devices.

With or without a legal proceeding, Acer persists to take all necessary steps to protect and enforce its patented technologies.

, the company said. Further details regarding the latest suit has not been made public by Acer.

Acer plans to unveil two new ultra-portable notebooks, the Aspire 2920 and the Ferrari 1110. Looking at the Aspire 2920, it's the first 12.1-inch notebook to use Acer's new Gemstone design theme. The 12,1-inch widescreen (1280x800) 2920 model features Santa Rosa Core 2 Duo, up to 2GB 667MHz DRR2 RAM, Intel GMA X310 graphics (up to 358MB), 250GB hard drive, Gigabit LAN and wireless connectivity. Again with 12.1-inch widescreen display, but this time with white LED backlighting and lots of carbon fiber, comes the Ferrari 1100. This good looking laptop will offer users the AMD M690T chipset with AMD Turion X2 CPUs (from the 1.60GHz TL-58 to the 2.3GHz TL-66 model), 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 RAM (upgradeable to 4GB), ATI Radeon X1250 with up to 960MB of HyperMemory and Draft N Wi-Fi. Both laptops come with a legal copy of Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic or Home Premium. There's no word on pricing, and availability.

Acer has become a member of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), giving Blu-ray a lead among the world's largest PC manufacturers.

We're delighted to welcome Acer to the Blu-ray Disc Association,

The addition of Acer provides one more sign of the growing momentum behind Blu-ray Disc and, more importantly, is a significant advantage for consumers, as it further expands the already broad options available to consumers in the personal computer space.

said Victor Matsuda, chairman of the BDA's Global Promotions Committee, in a prepared statement. The company also makes laptops equipped with HD DVD drives. Acer Inc. is currently one of the top five PC brands in the world, and the number one notebook brand in Europe.

Acer Inc., one of the world's leading branded PC vendors, announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Gateway, Inc. Gateway is the fourth largest PC company in the US and a leading retail PC provider. The combination will create a multi-branded PC-company with over US$15 billion in revenues and shipments in excess of 20 million PC units per year.

Acer Inc said Friday that it has filed a counterclaim of patent infringement against Hewlett-Packard Development Co before the Eastern District of Texas Court in the United States. The latest counterclaim is part of Acer's response to HP's patent infringement suit against the company filed at the same court earlier this year, Acer said in a statement. Acer claimed that HP has infringed its patents on dual-frequency antenna and DVD-ROM head technologies.

Another laptop battery recall has begun from today, when Acer Inc. announced that about 27,000 laptop batteries are defective. Again we are talking about Sony-made lithium-ion batteries that could overheat and cause a fire. The affected Acer models were sold in the U.S. and Canada from May 2004 through November 2006 for between $500 and $1,500. The laptops possibly containing the recalled batteries were the TravelMate series with 4-digit model numbers beginning with 242, 320, 321, 330, 422, 467, 561, C20, and the Aspire series beginning with model numbers 556, 560, 567, 930, 941, 980. Acer, whose U.S. division is based in San Jose, says consumers should immediately stop using the recalled batteries and contact the company for a free battery replacement. The laptops could still be safely used if powered by the AC adapter, the company said. Please click here, if you want to find out how you can replace your defective laptop battery.

According to market analyst iSupply, Acer is doing quite well for themselves. A while back, they decided that they were going to try and nab third place in global laptop sales rankings. During Q4 2006, Acer did just that. Thanks to aggressive pricing, the lackluster sales of just about everyone else, and problems with some competitor's hardware (battery recall, anyone?), Acer achieved it's goals. The only companies selling more laptops than Acer are Dell and HP. Overall, the laptop market is looking up. Analyst firm iSupply forecasts over 98.3 million laptop sales this year, up 23.5% from last year.

Acer's LCD monitor family just got a new member: The xSeries. Covering nearly the full range, starting from a 17 inch model up to the 24 inch one, the xSeries is completely Vista certified (whatever that means).
Prices start at US$179.99 for the x171s (17") and go all the way up to US$599.99 for the x241Wsd (24").

Acer now offers a full range of LCD monitors, ready and tested by WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Labs) for Windows Vista compliance. Acer's widescreen LCD monitor lines include 20", 22", 24" and 26" sizes with 16:10 display ratio to give plenty of onscreen space for applications, and extra room on the side for Vista's Sidebar, Office2007, Vista Media Center, Internet Explorer 7's Tab Browsing, Navigation, Preview pane or Reading Pane modes of Explorer. Acer LCD monitors will now carry a Vista-certified logo, indicating clearly to purchasers that the devices can enable additional or enhanced capabilities. The corresponding lines/models are: ALxx1x series for Value, Xxxx series for X, ALxx2x series for Office, and ALxx5x series for the Performance and Gamers line.