Acer Aspire One

As of today, it is official, Acer has moved into second place in terms of global share of the PC market.  For the quarter ending September 30, according to Gardner Group here is the ranking:

1. HP (19.9%)
2. Acer (15.4%)
3. Dell (12.8%)
4. Lenovo (8.5%)
5. Toshiba (5.0%)

So while Michael Dell is bashing netbooks and wishing that customers would return to purchasing higher margin full-size laptops, Acer is embracing change and driving innovative products into the marketplace.

I also believe that Dell suffers from its senseless dedication to its direct sales model.  While Acer products are available from many merchants, Dell products are hard to find at merchant sites.  Dell still expects customers to order custom versions online and wait weeks for delivery.  Most of today’s customers won’t wait weeks for delivery.

Acer Liquid Smartphone

For example, Acer is preparing to introduce its Liquid smartphone which is based on Google’s Android operating system and a Snapdragon processor.  The Liquid smartphone has a WVGA touchscreen, HSPA connectivity and a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, geo-tagging, ISO and a self-timer.

The exciting thing about the Liquid is the Snapdragon processor which is expected to provide smooth HD video and 3D graphics.

In addition, Acer is also introducing a new version of their Aspire One netbook which will sport both Android and Microsoft Windows in a dual boot arrangement.  The advantage of offering Android on the netbook, is fast boot access to do web browsing and email.

So, hats off to Acer!

Dell Mini Inspiron 10v

Last Tuesday, at a industry dinner in Silicon Valley, Michael Dell said this about netbooks:

“Take a user who’s used to a 15-inch notebook and then give him a 10-inch netbook. He’ll say ‘Oh, this is so cool, it’s so lightweight.’ Then 36 hours later he’ll say the screen’s not big enough, give me my 15-inch back.”

He also went on to say that a fair amount of customers were unsatisfied with the smaller screens and lower-performance parts.

Many industry observers were surprised by Michael Dell’s statements, especially since Dell offers a variety of netbooks – and since netbooks are the only growing segment in the PC marketplace.

But I am not surprised at all.  Why not?

Netbooks were popularized by Asus, Acer and MSI.  When the first netbooks hit the market in spring/summer 2008, they were an instant hit.  These three Taiwan-based companies saw their global market share balloon as a result.

The old-school laptop OEMs got into the game late.   For them, every sale of a netbook was stealing from the sales of higher-margin traditional laptops.  They only manufacture netbooks to protect marketshare.

Dell, HP, Lenovo, Toshiba and Fujitsu all hope that the netbook craze is short-lived – and that normal business will resume soon.

My comment to the old-school laptop makers is this:

Wake up!  The world is different.  Adapt or die.