RIYADH, 24 February 2005 — There is an anticipated growth of 15 percent in the personal computer market in the Kingdom where 422,000 units were sold last year.
“The Kingdom is the largest market in the Gulf where one million personal computers are marketed annually “ vice president, for Europe Middle East and Africa, EMEA of Acer, Emanuele Accolla told reporters at a press conference here yesterday.
Giving a breakdown of the PCs sold in the Kingdom, he added that 37 percent of them were notebook PCs, while 58 percent were Desktop PCs and five percent servers. In 2003, only 310,000 units were sold and there was a 36 percent increase in the subsequent year, he noted .
“In Saudi Arabia, Acer has been the No.1 notebook PC vendor for 15 consecutive months, recording an annual growth of 264 percent during 2004. Acer now accounts for one in every four notebooks sold in the Kingdom, with a 26.6 percent market share,” he said, pointing out that Acer now ranks third when notebook and desktop PCs are combined across the entire Middle East and African region. “It has outstripped the competition in 2004 with an annual growth rate of 60 percent — the largest increase of any other vendor. In Saudi Arabia, Acer now accounts for 18.4 percent of the combined market, and 15.4 percent in the UAE,” he noted . As one of the world’s top five branded PC vendors, he said Acer has continued to build on its position of strength, consistently taking market share away from its competitors. The company now ranks as one of the top three desktop and notebook PC suppliers in the Middle East region.
“The last 12 months have been a defining year for Acer in the Middle East, we have consistently taken market share away from our competitors across all areas of the business and have dominated the notebook sector in the region, to the extent that in Saudi Arabia alone we have been the No.1 notebook supplier for the last 15 months.” said Accolla.
Meeting the demand from the Middle East’s small and medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) for computing solutions, Acer has developed a portfolio of products including its TravelMate notebook PCs, Veriton desktop PCs and Altos servers, providing SMBs with powerful and affordable platforms from which to run their organizations.
Reflecting the worldwide success it enjoyed in 2004, Acer’s global consolidated revenues for the year jumped to $6.75 billion from 4.73 billion in 2003.
