Acer Steals No. 2 Spot From Dell In Global Q3 PC Shipments
On Wednesday, Lanci told investors at a London conference that he didn't foresee revenue declines this year and projected further growth in 2010, according to The Wall Street Journal.
"Between this quarter and the next, we can finally pass Dell," Lanci said. "I would expect not only to pass Dell very soon, but also to breach the gap with HP."
In terms of global PC shipments in the quarter, IDC said that Acer grabbed 14 percent market share, besting Dell's 12.7 percent share. Meanwhile, HP stayed in first place with 20.2 percent market share.
Acer's PC shipments were boosted thanks to the company's mini notebooks, which scored a hit with consumers looking for low-cost systems in the back-to-school season -- the vendor outperformed the market in virtually all regions, IDC said. Acer may also be well positioned going forward in the fourth quarter -- it is releasing a slew of new multitouch notebooks and an all-in-one desktop next month.
Rounding out the top five PC vendors in worldwide shipments in the quarter, according to IDC, Lenovo came in No. 4, with 8.9 percent market share, followed by Toshiba, which had 5.2 percent of the market.
Although its numbers differed from IDC's, the latest Gartner research released Thursday, also showed the same lineup in terms of global PC shipments.
According to Gartner, HP garnered 19.9 percent market share in global third-quarter 2009 worldwide PC shipments, Acer had 15.4 percent and Dell had 12.8 percent.
However, in U.S. PC vendor unit shipments, Gartner said Dell took the No.1 spot in the third quarter with 26.2 percent market share, followed by HP with 25.7 percent, and Acer with 13.9 percent. Apple came in fourth place with 8.8 percent market share.
However, Dell shouldn't get too comfy. Although it's the leader in PC shipments in the U.S., its shipments declined 8.9 percent in the quarter, which may be attributed to the company emphasizing profit protection rather than market-share expansion, the research firm said.
Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa also said that the launch of Microsoft's Windows 7 should have a minimal impact on PC unit growth. However, inventory adjustments around the launch could artificially affect shipment volumes during the third and fourth quarters of 2009.
"Recent OS releases have not been a growth driver in the PC market, however, the timing of Windows 7 is favorable for the industry due to expected economic improvements and an overdue hardware replacement cycle," Kitagawa said in a statement. "We anticipate renewed interest in hardware upgrades from consumers and small business during the holiday season as a result of Windows 7's release. In the corporate market, Windows 7's adoption is not expected to ramp up until late 2010."