PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Acer used its global press conference in Budapest to outline its plans to dethrone both HP and Dell from the top of the PC channel by 2011, and underline its commitment to the channel.
Part of that commitment was the announcement that Acer would be reintroducing its popular Aspire range through independent retailers and dealers.
The move comes less than a year after it announced it would be making the brand available only through etailers and chains, much to the anger of the channel.
Last year’s conference focused largely on the, then, very recent announcements of Acer’s acquisition of Gateway and Packard Bell. In contrast, this year’s event focused more on what the company had done to integrate the two companies into itself and detailed the firm’s plans going forward.
"We have been working for the last nine months [to merge the three organisations] and build up our strategy, and most of that migration is now complete," Acer chief executive Gianfranco Lanci told the conference.
"People told us acquisitions in this industry are never successful and in most cases you lose market share, but in our case one and one has made two, if not better."
He also revealed the vendor’s plans for the companies, with Europe seeing Packard Bell become Acer’s ‘social recognition’ brand, aimed at the hip and trendy. It will be positioning its eMachines brand at the value market.
Gateway will be positioned in the same way in the US and Canada.
Source: CRN
