News from the Notebook Market

Acer is targeting 50% revenue growth in India through the sale of notebooks. The Business Standard writes:

PC vendor Acer expects a 50 per cent growth in its revenue from the Indian market in the current fiscal, a top company official said.

"Our revenue in the last fiscal stood at Rs 1,200-crore. This year, we expect it to grow by 50 per cent to Rs 1,800-crore,' Acer India's Managing Director W S Mukund, said on the sidelines of the launch of Aspire One notebook, the company's first Internet device in the Indian market.

The company was pinning its hope on the newly-launched product, Mukund said, adding that, "Acer is aiming to sell 75,000 units of these notebooks over the next 12-months." In the first month of the launch itself, the company is targeting a sale of 5,000 units, he said.

Compal and other downstream notebook component suppliers are expected to benefit from a new notebook model launched by Dell. The new model will be produced by Compal. China Economic News writes:

Despite a rather conservative outlook for the notebook PC market in the second half this year, Compal Electronics and a number of Taiwanese makers of notebook-PC parts and components are expected to benefit from the rollout of a brand new series of business-use NB PC by Dell Computer, the world`s second largest NB PC vendor.

Michael Dell, chief executive officer of Dell, is scheduled to unveil the new model tomorrow (Aug. 13) in New Delhi, featuring light weight and colorful design, in stark difference from conventional business-use NB PCs, which emphasize function and stability, without much variety in design.

The new model will be contract-produced by Compal Electronics and its magnesium-aluminum alloy case is likely to be supplied by Catcher Technology. Other Taiwanese components and parts suppliers for the model include Shin Zu Shing, Simplo Technology, and Dynapack Battery Pack.

Finally, Trading Markets says notebook sales have surged in China. Trading Markets writes:

China's laptop sales surged 47.5% from a year earlier to 1.897 million units in the second quarters of 2008, showed the data of CCID Consulting, a leading IT market research and consulting company.

The top five computer makers led by Lenovo Group Limited (SEHK: 0992) took 71.4% of the Chinese market.

Dual core processors have become the mainstream configuration for laptops. The hardware tended to have big screens, large capacity, and high definition. VISTA was still unable to beat Windows XP in the operating system market.

Laptops are likely to take the place of desktops in the mounting home computer market, where Dell Inc. (Nasdaq: Dell) was enlarging its share after broadening retail channels, and Samsung was consolidating its foothold after product and price adjustment.

The surge in China will definitely benefit Taiwanese manufacturers. It seems the notebook market has a reasonable future ahead.

The Business Standard: Acer targets 50% revenue growth to 1,200 cr in FY 09
China Economic News: Dell`s New NB PC Will Benefit Compal and Other Taiwanese Makers
Trading Markets: China Laptop Sales Surged 47.5% in Q2