Senior Acer Executives in Kuala Lumpur, who are responsible for the Australian operations of Acer Australia, are being pressured to explain the “poor performance” of the local Australian subsidiary.Speculation is mounting of a management shakeup for Australia, after another month of poor results, with insiders in KL telling ChannelNews that “Acer Australia should be performing better”.
Globally, Acer is now the Number 2 maker of PCs behind Hewlett Packard, with Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba fighting it out for the other spots.
In Australia, Acer is struggling to make it into the top four.
According to research Company iSuppli, Acer’s PC shipments jumped 16.6 per cent in the third quarter of 2009 compared to Q3 last year and by 31 per cent from Q2 2009, iSuppli said.
This saw the company’s share of worldwide PC shipments rise to 13.4 per cent, up from 12 per cent in Q2 and from 11.6 per cent in Q3 2008.
“Acer’s rise to the number two rank in the global PC business reflects not only its strong performance in the notebook segment, but also the historic rise of Asia as a primary force in the computer industry,” said iSuppli principal analyst Matthew Wilkins.
He noted Acer’s strong performance was paralleled by fourth-ranked Lenovo, whose PC shipments rose by 17.2 per cent, the largest increase among the top-five OEMs during the period.
iSuppli said worldwide PC shipments in Q3 amounted to 79.9 million units, up 1.1 per cent on Q3 last year and a 19 per cent surge from the second quarter of 2009.
Hewlett-Packard remained the Number 1 supplier in the quarter, followed by Acer, Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba.
The research firm attributed this success to the continued popularity of notebook computers, which it said managed to generate growth every quarter despite the worldwide recession. In Australia, Acer has struggled to hold onto notebook market share, with retail chains like Dick Smith dropping Acer in favour of Dell.
When the year is completed, iSuppli expects PC shipments will have suffered a minor 0.9 per cent decline for 2009. Previously, the company had forecast a 4 per cent decline for the category.
