Original URL: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/04/06/q4_2006_notebook_shipments/
Acer has long let it be known that it is gunning for Lenovo's third place in the global PC market. In Q4 last year, it picked off an easier target, overtaking Toshiba to become the world's third best selling notebook PC maker.
Toshiba's sales fell slightly in the quarter, which would have been nice for Acer, but the rise in the ranks did not depend on the missteps of others, according to iSuppli. The market watcher attributes Acer's Q4 sales success, particularly in Europe, to aggressive pricing.
"Acer came, Acer saw and Acer conquered in the fourth quarter," said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst, compute platforms for iSuppli. "...The fourth quarter ranking shows the company is putting its money where its mouth is."
"The company has been very public about its intention to capture the No. 3 spot in the mobile-PC market—and Wilkins said Acer’s success was due to aggressive pricing strategies, which resulted in very impressive sales gains, particularly in Europe.
HP and Dell continue to dominate notebook sales, but Dell had a crap Q4, according to iSuppli's latest numbers, with shipments falling 1.5 per cent from Q3 to 3.52 million units. iSuppli's Wilkins attributes the fall to the 'increasingly competitive situation with Hewlett-Packard, and a generally tougher battle with other OEMs".
But of course, Dell was the earliest and most prominent casualty of last year's Sony notebook battery fiasco, which saw the company recall more than four million units for non-flammable battery retro-fits. This cannot have helped.
Lenovo held steady at fifth place in Q4, shipping 1.9 million units, up 9.1 per cent on Q3.
The fourth quarter saw 23.6 million mobile PC shipments, up from 20.4 million in Q3. For the full year, shipments were 79.6 million, advancing 28.4 per cent on 2005's 61.96 million shipments.
iSuppli forecasts mobile-PC shipments of 98.3 million units this year, up 23.5 per cent from 2006.
iSuppli has put the 2006 headline numbers into a handy chart, in this release (http://www.isuppli.com/news/default.asp?id=7732). ®
Global PC shipments up in Q4 (17 January 2008)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/01/17/pc_shipments_q4/
Trade Commission probes HP-Acer patent spat again (30 November 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/11/30/itc_investigates_hp_vs_acer2/
UK, France and Germany PC shipments moving on up (6 August 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/08/06/western_europe_q2_pc_shipments/
Lenovo profits soar (2 August 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/02/lenovo_quarterly_results/
Acer countersues HP in PC patent row (20 July 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/20/acer_countersues_hp/
Gateway recalls 14,000 batteries (20 June 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/06/20/gateway_recalls_14000_batteries/
Acer outlook not so sunny after all (14 June 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/06/14/acer_blames_vista/
One billion PCs in use in 2008 (11 June 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/06/11/one_billion_pcs_in_2008/
Trade Commission probes HP-Acer patent spat (17 May 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/05/17/itc_investigates_hp_vs_acer/
Acer debuts ProFile pro-laptop look (17 May 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/05/17/acer_travelmate_6292_unveiled/
Dell faces fraud case (16 May 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/05/16/dell_ag_case/
Acer turns to nature to inspire Aspire (15 May 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/05/15/acer_unveils_aspire/
Acer sues suppliers over HP patent lawsuit (10 May 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/05/10/acer_sues_contract_partners_in_hp_case/
HP raises outlook (8 May 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/08/hp_borecast/
Acer acquisition will be bigger than a breadbox, smaller than Gateway (27 April 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/04/27/acer_hints_at_acquisition/
HP pitches Acer another sueball (23 April 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/04/23/hp_sues_acer_again/
Dell offers XP again amidst Vista complaints (20 April 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/04/20/dell_offers_xp_again/
Lenovo sheds jobs to increase profit (19 April 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/04/19/lenovo_cuts_jobs_builds_china_lab/
PC shipments are buoyant, says analyst (19 April 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/04/19/pc_shipments_gartner/
Dell growth slows to crawl in Q4 (18 January 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/01/18/gartner_pc_numbers/
Dell accused of selling defective notebooks - again (12 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/12/inspiron_defect_lawsuit/
HP leads laptop league (3 January 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/03/ds_laptop_stats/
HP leads laptop league (3 January 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/01/03/laptop_figures_displaysearch/
Sony says battery burn-out probe should have been quicker (4 December 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/12/04/sony_battery_confession/