Acer Inc.

Acer Incorporated
宏碁股份有限公司
Type Public
LSE: ACID
TWSE: 2353
Industry Computer systems
Computer hardware
IT Services
Electronics
Founded 1976
Founder(s) Stan Shih et al.
Headquarters Xizhi, Taipei County,  Taiwan
Area served Worldwide
Key people J.T. Wang (CEO of Acer Group & Chairman of Acer Inc.)
Gianfranco Lanci (CEO & President of Acer Inc.)
Products Desktops
Laptops
Netbooks
Servers
Storage
Handhelds
Monitors
LCD TVs
Video projectors
Digital cameras
e-business
Revenue increase US$ 17.9 billion (2009)
Net income increase US$ 384 million (2009)
Employees 6,600 (March 31, 2010)
Subsidiaries Acer America Corporation
Acer Computer Australia
Acer India
Gateway, Inc.
Packard Bell
eMachines
E-TEN
Website Acer.com

Acer Incorporated (LSE: ACID, TWSE: 2353) (traditional Chinese: 宏碁股份有限公司; pinyin: Hóngqí Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī) is a Taiwan-based multinational computer technology and electronics corporation that manufactures desktop and laptop PCs, personal digital assistants (PDAs), servers, storage devices, displays, and peripherals. Acer provides e-business services for business, government, education, and home users.

Acer Group has its headquarters in Xizhi, Taipei County.[1][2]

The company also owns the largest franchised computer retail chain in Taipei, Taiwan.[3]

Contents

History

Acer was founded by Stan Shih (施振榮), his wife Carolyn Yeh, and a group of five others as Multitech in 1976, headquartered in Hsinchu City, Taiwan. 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 emerged as a PC manufacturer. The company was renamed Acer in 1987. In 1993, Acer posted record profits of $75 million; 43 percent of that year's net was generated by the DRAM joint venture, considered "the most efficient in the DRAM industry" by some observers. Total sales grew to $3.2 billion in 1994, and net income increased to $205 million, as Acer America turned its first annual profit in the 1990s. From 1994 to 1995, Acer advanced from 14th to ninth among the world's largest computer manufacturers, surpassing Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Toshiba.

Acer began its foray into laptops with the purchase of Texas Instruments' mobile PC division in 1997.

Spinning-off

In 1998 Acer reorganized into five groups—Acer International Service Group, Acer Sertek Service Group, Acer Semiconductor Group, Acer Information Products Group, and Acer Peripherals Group. Two years later that corporate restructuring did not appear to have made a significant impact on the company overall, and stock prices were sliding. Shih restructured again. To dispel complaints from clients that Acer competed with its own products and to alleviate the competitive nature of the branded sales vs. contract manufacturing businesses, Shih spun off the contract business, renaming it Wistron Corporation. The restructuring resulted in two primary units—brand name sales and contract manufacturing. The restructuring also resulted in Acer breaking off several of its smaller operations, including semiconductor design, consumer electronics, and liquid-crystal displays.[4]

Early signs indicated that the spinoff strategy had worked well, especially in Europe, where Acer became a popular PC brand. In 2003, company sales increased 48 percent to $4.6 billion, and helped Acer surpass Japan's Toshiba and NEC, making it the world's fifth largest manufacturer of PCs.[4]

Acer increased worldwide sales while simultaneously reducing its labor force by identifying and using marketing strategies that best utilized their existing distribution channels. By 2005, Acer employed a scant 7,800 people worldwide. Revenues rose from US$4.9 billion in 2003[5] to US$11.31 billion in 2006. Acer's North American market share has slipped over the past few years, while in contrast, the company's European market share has risen.[6]

On 27 August 2007, Acer announced plans to acquire its US-based rival Gateway Inc. for US$710 million. Acer's chairman, J.T. Wang, stated that the acquisition "completes Acer's global footprint, by strengthening our United States presence."[7] Included in this acquisition was the eMachines brand.

In January 2008, Acer announced that it had acquired a controlling interest of 75% of Packard Bell.[8]

In 2009 Acer acquired: E-TEN and 29.9% of Olidata.

In October 2009, Acer passed Dell as the world's number 2 PC maker.[9]

April 29, 2010[10]

Operations

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. 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. Acer has several facilities in Temple, Texas including a repair facility, a parts warehouse, and a call center. Acer owns Gateway, eMachines and Packard Bell brands in North America.

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 (Pvt) Limited, and was incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Acer Computer International, Ltd. in 1999. It is a notable vendor in key segments such as education, desktop computers and low profile notebooks for education purposes. Its headquarters are in Bangalore, India.

Europe, Middle East and Africa

Acer sells laptops in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.

Acer and Linux

Acer has shipped various Linux distributions on their notebooks and more recently netbooks. Distributions include Ubuntu, Linpus, and Android (in a dual boot environment with XP). Acer has also recently launched a line of smartphones which come with the Android operating system.

Products

Acer Aspire 5600 Notebook
Acer Aspire 3610 Notebook
Acer Aspire 5520 Notebook
Acer Aspire 4520 Notebook
Acer Aspire One
Consumer Desktops
Business Desktops
Consumer Notebooks
Business Notebooks
Netbook
Nettop
Servers and storage
Workstations
Computer displays
Projectors
Mobile phones
Other
Personal digital assistants
Automotive navigation systems

Brands

Environmental record

In May 2010, Acer came in 11th out of 18 leading electronics manufacturers in Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics that ranks electronics makers according to their policies on toxic chemicals, recycling and climate change. Greenpeace praises Acer for its proactive support to improve the revised EU Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive but criticises the company for its policy on toxic brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and vinyl plastic (PVC).[14] Acer’s new Timeline series notebook, Aspire 3811TZ, 3811TZG, 3811T, and 3811TG are free from PVC and BFRs and Acer aims to phase out these toxic substances in its personal and mobile computing products by 2011 backtracking from its previous commitment to eliminate them in all its products.[15] [16]

Sports Advertising

Acer sponsored the BAR-Honda Formula One racing team in the year 2000.[17] 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.[18] On 19 March 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.[19]

Acer also currently sponsor professional gaming team SK Gaming.

Acer was listed among the Worldwide TOP Partners for both the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and for the London 2012 Summer Olympics.

Other Advertising

Acer Arena, at Sydney Olympic Park, NSW, is the largest indoor live entertainment and sporting arena in Australia. It was formerly named the Sydney Superdome.

Designed and constructed by Abigroup Ltd in conjunction with Obayashi Corporation, the venue is acknowledged by experts as equal to the finest indoor arenas in the world today.

One of the major venues for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and Paralympic Games, Acer Arena hosted artistic gymnastics, trampoline, the basketball finals and wheelchair basketball.

The $200 millon complex was designed and constructed to set new benchmarks in urban design, access for people with disabilities, spectator comfort, operation efficiency and Olympic serviceability.

The project comprises three subsites:

Acer Arena was designed and constructed with very high environmental values and was awarded the prestigious national Banksia Award for Construction Practices in 1999.

Officially opened by the former Premier of New South Wales, Bob Carr, in November 1999 with a gala performance by Luciano Pavarotti, Acer Arena has hosted events including Supercross, tennis, rock concerts, arena musicals, religious services, school spectaculars and banquets.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Legal Notices." Acer Group. Retrieved on March 15, 2010. "8F, No. 88, Section 1, Hsin Tai Wu Road., Hsichih 221, Taipei Hsien, Taiwan."
  2. ↑ "Social Welfare." Acer Group. Retrieved on March 15, 2010. "Acer’s headquarter at Hsichih".
  3. ↑ "About Acer – Milestones". Acer. Archived from the original on July 08, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060708175102/http://global.acer.com/about/milestones.htm. Retrieved 7 July 2007. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Encyclopedia of Business, 2nd ed.
  5. ↑ "Gianfranco Lanci is appointed President of Acer Inc., effective January 2005" (PDF). Acer. 1 September 2004. http://www.acer.co.in/press/New_President.pdf. Retrieved 27 April 2007. 
  6. ↑ "PC market surged in 2005, will settle in 2006". cnet. 18 January 2006. http://news.com.com/PC+market+surged+in+2005,+will+settle+in+2006/2100-1003_3-6028454.html. Retrieved 7 July 2007. 
  7. ↑ 6:00 p.m. ET (27 August 2007). "Taiwan's Acer to buy PC maker Gateway - World business - MSNBC.com". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20458321/. Retrieved 7 April 2009. 
  8. ↑ "Acer Buys 75 Percent of Packard Bell making it the 2nd largest computer maker in the world". Washington Post. 31 January 2008. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/31/AR2008013101390.html. Retrieved 7 April 2009. 
  9. ↑ "http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/blog/eyeonasia/archives/2009/10/acer_passes_del.html". Business Week. 15 October 2009. http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/blog/eyeonasia/archives/2009/10/acer_passes_del.html. Retrieved 23 April 2010. 
  10. ↑ [1]
  11. ↑ [2]
  12. ↑ [3]
  13. ↑ Products & Services – PDA Archived October 18, 2006 at the Wayback Machine.
  14. ↑ "Guide to Greener Electronics". Greenpeace International. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/toxics/electronics/Guide-to-Greener-Electronics/. Retrieved 2010-08-16. 
  15. ↑ "Product Environmental Management". Acer Inc. http://www.acer-group.com/public/Sustainability/sustainability_main04-3.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-16. 
  16. ↑ "Product Environmental Management". Acer Inc. http://www.acer-group.com/public/Sustainability/sustainability_main04-3d.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-16. 
  17. ↑ About Acer – News Release
  18. ↑ About Acer – News Release Archived February 19, 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  19. ↑ "02.02.2009 Packard Bell sponsor of Yamaha Factory Racing Team : Changeover of sponsorship from Acer" (PDF). http://www.packardbell.com/NR/rdonlyres/841AAED9-A03E-43F4-812F-0B76FE4F387D/1061/pb_yamaha_sponsorship.pdf. Retrieved 7 April 2009. 

External links