Acer Computers to take aim at games market
Acer Computers, while planning to enter the games market, expects to gain flat rate growth by the end of this year. It also maintained leading market share in the second quarter in the notebook sector.
Nitipat Praweenwongwuthi, associate director of marketing at Acer Computers, said the firm aims to expand its business into the games market which is a high opportunity one.
It has also announced a new notebook – Acer Aspire V Nitro, which is designed for games lovers and high-end market, with a starting price of Bt39,900 (included VAT). Acer also has plans to introduce a new desktop computer designed for gamers to the market next month.
The firm has announced seven new products to support the market including – Acer Aspire R13 hybrid notebook; Acer Aspire V Nitro, a high performance notebook designed for game lovers; Acer Aspire V3 notebook; Acer Switch11, a hybrid tablet; Acer IconiaTab W1, a Windows-based tablet; Acer Aspire Z series, an all-in-one desktop and an Acer Aspire Predator G series, which is a desktop PC for gamers.
Nitipat said the firm this year expects a flat rate of growth, gaining 65 per cent of revenue from PCs and notebooks. It expects around 10-15 per cent in growth from smart-phones. By the end of this year smart-phone shipments totalling 700,000 units should gain a 6-per-cent share of the market, and possibly third place in the market by year-end. The firm last year distributed around 300,000 smart-phone units. The firm anticipates continued market growth for smart-phone and tablet devices.
“We are now providing smart-phone devices focusing on the entry and medium market with an affordable price and performance. We also joined hands with telecom operators such AIS and Dtac to deliver our smart-phone to the market,” he said.
Nitipat added that Thailand’s total PC and notebook market in the first half of this year dropped 36 per cent and in the second half expects to drop around 30 per cent of the total, with shipments of 2.2 million units in 2014. PCs and notebooks last year accounted for total shipments of 3 million units.
An influential factor was a change in customer behaviour resulting from opportunities to purchase PC and notebook features in smart-phone, tablet and hybrid notebook devices.
