Analyst warns of price hikes

Analyst firm Context says increasing component costs have forced PC vendors such as Lenovo, HP, and Dell to raise prices, according to V3.

Context reports that component manufacturers scaled back production and investment during the downturn as a matter of caution, and have been looking for ways to make up the loss for the past six months. The research shows that component costs for notebooks fell by over 9% in the first seven months of 2009, but rose by more than 4% up to the end of January 2010.

"We have seen an increase in market prices, and we expect this to possibly continue for a bit longer," says Context pricing analyst Mathias Knoefel. Knoefel explains that vendors had kept contract prices low in an attempt to appeal to business accounts, but are now under pressure not to lose more money on the deals.

Intel has introduced its vPro hardware platform for business-class PCs and showcased a new set of custom notebook building blocks named Spring Peak for its system builder channel, reports ChannelWeb.

The chipset manufacturer says vPro-branded hardware adds new system management, security, and client virtualisation capabilities to platforms designed for commercial desktops and notebooks, and the in-house IT administrators and third-party managed service providers who maintain and manage them.

Intel's vPro utilises the company's Core i7 and Core i5 processors using its Nehalem-class microarchitecture with 32-nanometer process technology. The multi-core chips feature Intel's Turbo Boost technology to automatically adjust individual core frequencies for different types of workloads for better balance performance and energy consumption.

Acer Computer keeps driving its multi-brand strategy with a target to grow by 30% this year, says Bangkok Post.

Managing director of Acer Computer, Harry Yang, says Acer is number one in the overall PC market in Thailand, with an overall 18% growth and notebook sales increasing by 22%. Citing Gartner, he says Acer ranked third in the worldwide PC market last year, with a market share of 15.4%.

Acer wants to grow by 30% in sales revenue, and the company will keep its multi-brand products and strategies to offer more choices to the market.