South Africans are buying notebook PCs at record rates, but the high demand could be tempered by the weakening exchange rate that could see prices hiked up by 10%, says Acer country manager David Drummond.
Drummond says the weakening rand, most notably against the US dollar, has been absorbed by vendors since June, when the local currency stood at R6.20/$, before weakening to the current rate of R7.75/$.
"We have been able to use a number of other influences to buffer our prices, such as the international price drop for memory chips and other PC components. However, we have since exhausted that route and now we will probably have to pass the rand`s weakness on during the fourth quarter," he says.
Drummond was speaking in Cape Town following a presentation by Acer, together with chip maker Intel, to resellers on the new line of PCs using Intel`s new Core Duo chipset.
He says Acer has managed to take the top spot in the South African notebook and laptop market and holds about 21% of the market. Drummond was citing International Data Corporation numbers.
Chip set advantage
According to Drummond, his company has managed to sustain a quarterly increase of about 60% in notebook and laptop sales, based on its service model of "fetch, repair and return", and that it has managed to be the first to market with the new Intel technology.
"We started introducing the new Intel chip set in January this year, while our competitors only did so in May. This gave us a lead time of five months to really capture as much market share a possible," he says.
Availability of stock became an issue for the local market after stock levels for the Acer distributors fell from 30 days to 12 days.
"We had forecast demand for about 450 000 laptops and notebooks during the third quarter. Actual orders were triple the size. However, we have stabilised the situation and there is stock available," Drummond says.
No Vista impact
Small and medium size businesses are increasingly buying portable PCs as they see them as key to their business strategies, says Drummond.
"This has been facilitated by the largely stable pricing structure, the prevalence of wireless networks including 3G and WiFi and the real need for small businesses to find a way to store and carry their data with them," he says.
Drummond says the delay of Microsoft`s Windows Vista operating system to the first quarter of next year has had little if any impact on the South African market.
"Mature markets, such as Europe are really replacement markets. In SA, we are seeing a lot of new entrants into the market and so the delay of Vista is not an issue," he says.
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