Acer Inc.

Acer Incorporated
宏碁股份有限公司

Type	Public (LSE: ACID, TSE: 2353)
Founded	1976
Founder(s)	Stan Shih et al.
Headquarters	Taipei, Taiwan
Key people	J.T. Wang, Chairman & CEO of Acer Group Gianfranco Lanci, CEO of Acer[1]
Industry	Computer hardware
Products	Desktops, Laptops, Netbooks, Servers, IT Services, Handhelds, Monitors, LCD TVs, Video projectors, Digital cameras
Revenue	▲US$19 billion (2008) Acer
Net income	▲US$338 million (2006)
Employees	5,300(2006)
Subsidiaries	Acer Computer Australia Acer India Acer America Corporation Gateway, Inc. Packard Bell eMachines E-TEN
Website	www.acer.com

Acer Incorporated (LSE: ACID, TSE: 2353) (traditional Chinese: 宏碁股份有限公司) is a Taiwan-based multinational electronics manufacturer. Its product lineup includes desktops and laptops, as well as personal digital assistants (PDAs), servers and storage, displays, peripherals, and e-business services for business, government, education, and home users.

Acer is the third largest computer manufacturer in the world (by sales) after HP and Dell Inc.;^[2] the company owns the largest franchised computer retail chain in Taipei, Taiwan.^[3]

Contents 1 History 2 Operations 2.1 Australia 2.2 India 2.3 Europe, Middle East and Africa 2.4 North America 3 Controversy and criticism 4 Acer and Linux 5 Products 6 Brands 7 Sport 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

History

This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this section if you can. (August 2008)

Originally named Multitech, it was founded by Stan Shih (施振榮), his wife Carolyn Yeh, and a group of five others in 1976. Multitech was eventually renamed Acer in 1987. It began with eleven employees and US$25,000 in capital. Initially, it was primarily a distributor of electronic parts and a consultant in the use of microprocessor technologies, but over time it began to grow as a PC manufacturer. The global headquarters is located in Hsinchu City, Taiwan.

Acer purchased Texas Instruments' mobile PC (laptop) division in 1997.

In 2000, Acer spun off its manufacturing operation as Wistron Corporation, to focus itself on branding business. 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. In 2002, the pan Acer Group employed 39,000 people supporting dealers and distributors in more than 100 countries.^{[citation needed]} Revenues reached US$12.9 billion that year.^{[citation needed]} 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^[4] and US$11.31 billion in 2006. Acer's North American market share slipped over the past few years while the European market share has gone up.^[5]

In Europe, Acer mounted an association with the Ferrari Formula 1 Team. Prior to this they were associated with Prost Grand Prix in 2001 and the BAR-Honda team in 2002. Their sponsorship of Prost was intensive and resulted in buying the naming rights to the engine. Throughout the 2001 season the team were referred to as Prost-Acer. After Prost folded, Acer sponsored the BAR team. Acer then began to offer a line of premium laptops and LCD monitors with Ferrari branding. It has recently broadened the scope of its relationship with Ferrari by announcing it will sponsor the Formula One team until 2008. Acer has recently introduced the Ferrari line of products to North America, and rolled out a Ferrari-branded line of PDA devices.

Acer ranks as the world's No. 2 branded PC vendor behind the Hewlett Packard Company, recently claiming the No.2 rank from Dell Inc.^[6]

Acer ranks as joint second largest manufacturer of PCs too. ^[7]

On August 27, 2007, Acer announced plans to acquire U.S. based rival Gateway Inc. for US$710 million. J.T. Wang, the company's chairman, said in a statement that the acquisition "completes Acer's global footprint, by strengthening our U.S. presence."^[8] In January 2008, Acer announced that it had acquired a controlling interest of 75% of Packard Bell.^[9]

In September 2008, Acer surpassed HP and Dell over worldwide notebook shipment becoming No.1 in the world. ^[10]

Operations

Australia

The Australian subsidiary of Acer is Acer Computer Australia (ACA). The subsidiary was established in 1990. and is currently Australia's third largest personal computer vendor, behind Hewlett-Packard Australia and Dell Australia and New Zealand. Acer Computer Australia has Australia's highest overall market share in notebook PC and tablet PC sales. The company is also Australia's leading PC vendor in government and education markets. Acer Computer Australia has 480 employees as of 2006.

India

Acer's subsidiary in India is Acer India, is the vendor in key segments such as education, desktop computers and low profile notebooks for education purposes. Its headquarters are in Bangalore, India. Leveraging the vast collective technological resources available - Acer India (Pvt) Ltd., was incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Acer Computer International Ltd. on 9th September 1999.

Europe, Middle East and Africa

Acer sells in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region in the notebook sector. Confirming its appearance in the EMEA notebook market, in 2005 Acer ranked among top 11 in 13 countries: Italy, Spain, Austria, The Netherlands, Switzerland, The Czech Republic, Russia, Portugal, Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

North America

Acer America Corporation, headquartered in San Jose, California, is a member of the Acer Group. Acer's R&D, engineering, manufacturing and marketing operations in the United States and Canada are handled by Acer America Corporation. In September 1990, Acer acquired Altos Computer Systems, one of the top manufacturers of multi-user and networked UNIX computer systems for commercial markets. In February 1997, Acer acquired Texas Instruments Mobile Computing business, including the award-winning TravelMate and Extensa notebook lines, making Acer the fourth-leading notebook manufacturer in the United States. Acer America's Canadian office, in Mississauga, Ontario, handles repair of Acer, Gateway, and E-Machine Notebooks and Desktop PCs for Eastern Canada. The repair facility in Temple, Texas handles many service oriented functions for North America. Acer owns Gateway, eMachines and Packard Bell brands in North America.

Controversy and criticism

This article's Criticism or Controversy section(s) may mean the article does not present a neutral point of view of the subject. It may be better to integrate the material in such sections into the article as a whole.

Acer has been the subject of lawsuits, notably from its rival, Hewlett-Packard. According to HP's lawsuit, Acer was infringing numerous technological patents, including power management in notebooks. Alleging that Acer obtained patent designs registered by HP without any approval and agreement, HP filed a damage claim of 3.2 billion U.S. dollars against Acer for the infringement of patent rights.^[11]

Acer America Corporation has previously had an unsatisfactory record with the United States Better Business Bureau. It currently has a BBB Rating of D-.^[12]

Acer and Linux

Acer has stated that it will be pushing Linux aggressively on its new laptops and notebooks. They are already heavily promoting Linux for its low cost netbook range put out in late 2008, but senior staff have said that Acer will also push Linux on its laptops as well. Acer has already started selling Linux in its Media PC business.^[13] Linux support for older Acer laptops is still variable due to the use of a variety of unsupported chipsets^{[citation needed]}.

Products

Desktops

• Acer Aspire series
• Acer Predator series

Notebooks

• Acer TravelMate series
• Acer Gemstone series
• Tablet PC series
• Acer Aspire series
• Acer Aspire Timeline series^[14]
• Acer Extensa series
• Acer Ferrari series (CPUs: Mobile AMD Turion 64)

Netbook

• Aspire One

Nettop

• AspireRevo

Personal digital assistants

• S Series of Palm OS PDAs
• Acer N Series

Automotive navigation systems

• Acer e300 series Travel Companion,^[15] with Destinator and NAVTEQ maps.

Servers and storage

• Acer Altos series

Workstations

• Acer PICA

Computer displays

• DLP Projectors

Other

• Digital cameras
• LCD TVs
• Mobile phones

Brands

• Acer
• eMachines
• Gateway
• Packard Bell
• E-TEN
• Glofiish

Sport

Acer sponsored the BAR-Honda Formula One racing team in the year 2000.^[16] In 2001, Acer provided sponsorship to the Prost Grand Prix Formula One team, and the team's Ferrari engines were badged as Acers.

Acer currently sponsors the Ferrari Formula 1 team. In 2003 Acer signed a Gold Partner sponsorship deal with FC Internazionale - Milano (Inter Milan) Football Club. From January 2007, Acer has become Official Supplier of FC Barcelona.^[17] On March 19, 2007, Acer announced that they will sponsor the Factory Fiat Yamaha Team for the 2007 MotoGP World Championship season. From 2009, Packard Bell (a subsidiary of Acer) will be the sponsor of Fiat Yamaha MotoGP.^[18]

There was an agreement beginning on January 1, 2009 which includes the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Under this agreement, Acer will be listed among the Worldwide TOP Partners for both the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and for the London 2012 Summer Olympics.

See also

• Microprofessor I - Acer's first product
• BenQ - formerly Acer CM
• ALi - formerly Acer Laboratories Incorporated
• AOpen - formerly AcerOpen
• ACC (computer company)
• List of computer system manufacturers
• List of companies in Taiwan
• eMachines
• Gateway
• Packard Bell
• E-TEN
• ETEN operation system
• Linpus Linux

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Acer computers

• Official website
• Gateway
• Packard Bell
• eMachines
• Glofiish
• E-TEN
• Linpus Linux