Acer Inc. is a Taiwanese multinational hardware and electronics corporation headquartered in Xizhi, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Acer's products include desktop and laptop PCs, tablet computers, servers, storage devices, displays, smartphones and peripherals. It also provides e-business services to businesses, governments and consumers. Acer is the fourth largest PC maker in the world.
In the early 2000s, Acer implemented a new business model, shifting
from a manufacturer to a designer, marketer and distributor of products,
while performing production processes via contract manufacturers.
In addition to its core business, Acer also owns the largest franchised computer retail chain in Taipei, Taiwan.
History
Acer Inc. HQ in New Taipei, Taiwan
Acer was founded by Stan Shih , 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. It produced the Micro-Professor MPF-I training kit, then two Apple II clones; the Microprofessor II and III
before joining the emerging IBM PC compatible market, and becoming a
significant 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.
In 1995, the Aspire PC was unveiled. In 1996, Acer expanded into
consumer electronics, introducing many new, inexpensive videodisc
players, video telephones, and other devices to boost global market
share,
and in 1997 extended its laptop efforts by buying Texas Instruments' mobile PC division.
Considering two consecutive quarters of net losses in Q2+Q3 2011 and
realization they are selling too many products; 101 individual notebook,
netbook and chromebook SKUs in the United States alone, Acer will cut
product lines by two thirds beginning in 2012.
Spinning-off
| Acer Inc. logo history |
|
|
1987–2001 |
|
2001–2011 |
|
2011–present |
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 falling. 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.
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 maker of PCs.
Acer is also the second largest manufacturer of notebook computers according to Gartner data 2011.
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
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.
Acquisitions
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".
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.
In March 2008, Acer acquired: E-TEN In 2009, Acer acquired 29.9% of Olidata.
In October 2009, Acer passed Dell as the world's number 2 PC maker.
In August 2010, Acer and Founder Technology signed a memorandum of mutual understanding to strengthen their long term PC business cooperation.
In July 2011, Acer Inc. bought iGware Inc. for $320 million to try possible potentially lucrative cloud market. iGware creates cloud software and infrastructure tools for devices
.
Figures
29 April 2010
- Acer announced revenue in Q1 rose 36 percent year-on-year to NT$162.1 billion (US$5.2 billion) and its net profit increased 63 percent to 3.29 billion New Taiwan dollars (US$104.7 million); 27 percent of revenue comes from the U.S.
- Gianfranco Lanci announced that Acer will launch 4 new smartphones
by Q3 2010, and a series of "Internet Devices" by the end of May which
will run version 4.0 of its Shell user interface.
- According to Gartner and IDC, Acer now ranks No. 1 worldwide in notebook shipments.
Operations
North America
Acer America HQ in San Jose, CA
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. In 2007 Acer acquired PC maker Gateway.
The acquisitions marked Acer’s return to the US consumer market that it
abandoned in 1999 after losing $45m struggling to build brand
awareness. 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. In
the words of its Chief Executive, J.T. Wang, “Building a brand is very
different in the US. The investment at the initial stage has to be very
big—otherwise there is almost no impact”.
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. The headquarters are in Bangalore,
India. It has however been extensively criticized for poor after sales
service and multiple other issues that have plagued its customers.
Linux
Acer has shipped some of their notebooks and more recently netbooks, with various Linux operating system distributions including Ubuntu, Linpus, Android (in a dual boot environment with Windows XP), and Google Chrome OS. They have also launched a line of smartphones and tablets with Android.
Products
Acer Aspire 3610 Notebook
Acer Aspire 5520 Notebook
Acer Aspire 4520 Notebook
13.3' Acer Aspire S3 with Intel i7 and 240G solid state drive
- Chromebook
On 11 April 2011, Google announced that Acer will be offering Chromebook laptops starting 15 June. Acer's Wi-Fi only Chromebook costs $349. The devices have been available for sale in the U.S. from Amazon and Best Buy since July 2011.
- Consumer Desktops
- Acer Aspire Desktop series
- Acer Aspire Predator series
- Business Desktops
- Consumer Notebooks
- Acer Aspire Notebook series
- Acer Aspire Timeline series
- Acer Ferrari products series
- Acer Iconia
- Business Notebooks
- Acer TravelMate series
- Acer Extensa series
- Tablet
- Netbook
- Acer Aspire One series
- Ferrari One
- Nettop
- Mobile phones
- Acer Tempo series
- Acer Liquid
- Acer beTouch
- Acer neoTouch
- Acer Stream
- Acer E110
- Acer DX
- Acer F
- Acer Iconia
- Acer T
- Home Network Solution
- Computer displays
- G Series
- P Series
- H Series
- X Series
- B Series
- V Series
- S Series
- T Series
- D Series
- MO Monitor TV series
- Projectors
- Professional Series
- Home Series
- Travel Series
- Value Series
- Television
- Servers and storage
- Acer server F1 series
- Tower series: T110 F1, T115 F1, T150 F1, T310 F1, T350 F1;
- Rack series: R160 F1, R180 F1, R320 F1, R360 F1, R380 F1, R385 F1, R585 F1;
- Blade series: B2x285 F1, B2x280 F1, B460 F1;
- Gemini series: B1170 F1, B2170 F1, B2170t, B2175 F1
- Home Server Series: H340, H341, H342, Altos Easystore M2
- Acer storage series
- N500 F1, N1600 F1, HNAS3080, GS2040, AMS2100, AMS2300
- Other (discontinued devices)
- Digital cameras
- Personal digital assistants
- Automotive navigation systems
- Acer PICA
Brands
- Acer
- eMachines
- Gateway
- Packard Bell
- E-TEN
Environmental record
In 2005, Acer published its first environmental report, for which the company used the GRI guidelines.
All of Acer’s tier-one suppliers have acquired ISO 14001 certification.
In November 2011, Acer was ranked 12th place out of 15 in Greenpeace’s
re-launched Guide to Greener Electronics, with the a score of 2.9
points out of 10. The Guide ranks electronics makers according to their
policies and practices to reduce their impact on the climate, produce
greener products, and make their operations more sustainable.
Greenpeace criticized the company for not setting out targets to
reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as intended in 2010 and for not
providing external verification for the GHG emissions it reports for its
operations and business travel. It also scored badly on the Products
criteria receiving no points on product life cycle while Greenpeace
noted that a higher percentage of its products need to meet or exceed
Energy Star standards in order for it to score more points.
It received some praise for launching new products which are free
from polyvinyl chloride plastic (PVC) and brominated flame retardants
(BFRs) and the company informed Greenpeace that the majority of its
products will be PVC/BFR free in the near future. Acer also scored well
on chemical management for lobbying for restrictions on organo-halogens
and was commended for reporting on GHG emissions from its first tier
suppliers and investigating its second tier.
Acer sponsored the
BAR-
Honda Formula One racing team in the year 2000.
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 and it's Top Sponsor of FC Internazionale – Milano
(Inter Milan) Football Club. From 2007 to 2009 Acer has been Official
Supplier of FC Barcelona.
On 19 March 2007, Acer announced it will sponsor the Factory Fiat Yamaha Team for the 2007 MotoGP
World Championship season. From 2009, Packard Bell (that it is part of
Acer Group) is the sponsor of Yamaha Factory Racing Team.
since 2010 Acer support Army United F.C. the Thai football team of the Thai Premier League
Acer also currently sponsors professional gaming team SK Gaming.
Acer has been Worldwide TOP Partners for both the Vancouver 2010
Olympic Winter Games and Singapore Youth Olympic Games. Acer will be TOP
Partner of next London 2012 Summer Olympics.
US$2.5 billion (2010)
