Acer South Africa yesterday launched a series of products as part of a strategy to strengthen its position in the country`s PC market.
The company unveiled a series of four TravelMate notebooks, based on the new Intel Sonoma platform, saying it sees future growth in the notebook segment of the local market.
Joubert de Lange, Acer SA`s market development manager, told a media briefing that the products offer improved overall performance characteristics with extended battery life due to a design that limits current absorption.
The Sonoma platform also has features dedicated to entertainment, including increased video graphics processing power that allows it to better support TV cards and functions such as video-taping on a fixed disk.
De Lange claimed the new offering also has a strong focus on business needs, including improved support for WiFi networks and better energy management efficiency.
Acer SA country manager David Drummond pointed out that Acer SA`s performance in notebooks and servers was particularly strong, showing growth of 31.2% and 134%, respectively, in the first quarter of 2005 compared to the first quarter of 2004. Notebook shipments, he added, climbed by 5.9% and x86 server sales jumped 27.4% year-on-year in the first quarter.
He stated that Acer SA`s plan for 2005 is to gain first place in the notebook segment of the local market, and third and fourth place, respectively, in the desktop and server segments.
The company considers emerging markets, such as Africa and the Middle East, as important for its future growth. According to Acer`s data, the Europe, Middle East and Africa IT market registered growth of 17% year-on-year in the first quarter.
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