Acer Inc.

Acer Incorporated
宏碁股份有限公司

Type	Public company
Traded as	LSE: ACID TWSE: 2353
Industry	Computer systems Computer hardware IT Services Electronics
Predecessor	Multitech International
Founded	1976 (as Multitech)
Founder(s)	Stan Shih et al.
Headquarters	Xizhi, New Taipei, Taiwan
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Zhentang Wang (Chairman and CEO)
Products	Desktops Laptops Netbooks Servers Storage Handhelds Monitors Televisions Video projectors e-business
Revenue	US$ 19.9 billion (2010)
Net income	US$ 519 million (2010)
Employees	7,757 (March 2011)
Subsidiaries	Acer America Corporation Acer Computer Australia Acer India Gateway, Inc. Packard Bell eMachines E-TEN Aopen
Website	acer.com

Acer Incorporated ( /ˈeɪsər/; Chinese: 宏碁股份有限公司; pinyin: Hóngqi Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, lit. Hongqi Corporation) (LSE: ACID, TWSE: 2353) is a multinational information technology and electronics corporation headquartered in Xizhi, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Acer's products include desktop and laptop PCs, tablet computers, servers, storage devices, displays, smartphones and peripherals. It also provides e-business services to businesses, governments and consumers.

In the early 2000s Acer implemented a new business model, shifting from a manufacturer to a designer, marketer and distributor of products, while performing production processes via contract manufacturers.^[1] All of Acer's products are now made by original equipment manufacturers in the People's Republic of China.^{[citation needed]}

In addition to its core business Acer also owns the largest franchised computer retail chain in Taipei, Taiwan.^[2]

Acer Headquarters in New Taipei

History

Acer was founded by Stan Shih (施振榮), his wife Carolyn Yeh, and a group of five others as Multitech in 1976, headquartered in Hsinchu City, Taiwan.

It began with eleven employees and US$25,000 in capital. Initially, it was primarily a distributor of electronic parts and a consultant in the use of microprocessor technologies. It produced the Micro-Professor MPF-I training kit, then two Apple II clones; the Microprofessor II and III before joining the emerging IBM PC compatible market—and over time becoming a significant PC manufacturer. The company was renamed Acer in 1987.

In 1993, Acer posted record profits of $75 million; 43 percent of that year's net was generated by the DRAM joint venture, considered "the most efficient in the DRAM industry" by some observers. Total sales grew to $3.2 billion in 1994, and net income increased to $205 million, as Acer America turned its first annual profit in the 1990s. From 1994 to 1995, Acer advanced from 14th to ninth among the world's largest computer manufacturers, surpassing Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Toshiba.

In 1995, the Aspire PC was unveiled. In 1996, Acer expanded into consumer electronics, introducing many new, inexpensive videodisc players, video telephones, and other devices to boost global market share,^[1] and in 1997 extended its laptop efforts by buying Texas Instruments' mobile PC division.

Spinning-off

Acer Inc. logo history
Logo	Years
	1987–March 2001
	March 2001-2011
	2011–present

In 1998, Acer reorganized into five groups: Acer International Service Group, Acer Sertek Service Group, Acer Semiconductor Group, Acer Information Products Group, and Acer Peripherals Group. Two years later that corporate restructuring did not appear to have made a significant impact on the company overall, and stock prices were falling. Shih restructured again. To dispel complaints from clients that Acer competed with its own products and to alleviate the competitive nature of the branded sales vs. contract manufacturing businesses, Shih spun off the contract business, renaming it Wistron Corporation. The restructuring resulted in two primary units: brand name sales and contract manufacturing. The restructuring also resulted in Acer breaking off several of its smaller operations, including semiconductor design, consumer electronics, and liquid-crystal displays.^[3]

Early signs indicated that the spinoff strategy had worked well, especially in Europe, where Acer became a popular PC brand. In 2003, company sales increased 48 percent to $4.6 billion, and helped Acer surpass Japan's Toshiba and NEC, making it the world's fifth largest maker of PCs.^[3]

Acer increased worldwide sales while simultaneously reducing its labor force by identifying and using marketing strategies that best utilized their existing distribution channels. By 2005, Acer employed a scant 7,800 people worldwide. Revenues rose from US$4.9 billion in 2003^[4] to US$11.31 billion in 2006.

Acer's North American market share has slipped over the past few years, while in contrast, the company's European market share has risen.^[5]

Acquisitions

On 27 August 2007, Acer announced plans to acquire its US-based rival Gateway Inc. for US$710 million. Acer's chairman, J.T. Wang, stated that the acquisition "completes Acer's global footprint, by strengthening our United States presence."^[6] Included in this acquisition was the eMachines brand.

In January 2008, Acer announced that it had acquired a controlling interest of 75% of Packard Bell.^[7]

In 2009, Acer acquired: E-TEN and 29.9% of Olidata.

In October 2009, Acer passed Dell as the world's number 2 PC maker.^[8]

In August 2010, Acer and Founder Technology signed a memorandum of mutual understanding to strengthen their long term PC business cooperation.

In July 2011, Acer Inc. will buy iGware Inc. for $320 million to try possible potentially lucrative cloud market.^[9] iGware creates cloud software and infrastructure tools for devices. ^[10]

Figures

29 April 2010^[11]

• Acer announced revenue in Q1 rose 36 percent year-on-year to NT$162.1 billion (US$5.2 billion) and its net profit increased 63 percent to 3.29 billion New Taiwan dollars (US$104.7 million); 27 percent of revenue comes from the U.S.
• Gianfranco Lanci announced that Acer will launch 4 new smartphones by Q3 2010, and a series of "Internet Devices" by the end of May which will run version 4.0 of its Shell user interface.
• According to Gartner and IDC, Acer now ranks #1 worldwide in notebook shipments.^[12]

Operations

North America

Headquarters of Acer America at San Carlos St. San Jose, CA

Acer America Corporation, headquartered in San Jose, California, is a member of the Acer Group. Acer's R&D, engineering, manufacturing and marketing operations in the United States and Canada are handled by Acer America. In September 1990, Acer acquired Altos Computer Systems, one of the top manufacturers of multi-user and networked Unix computer systems for commercial markets. In February 1997, Acer acquired Texas Instruments Mobile Computing business, including the award-winning TravelMate and Extensa notebook lines, making Acer the fourth-leading notebook manufacturer in the United States. In 2007 Acer acquired PC maker Gateway. The acquisitions marked Acer’s return to the US consumer market that it abandoned in 1999 after losing $45m struggling to build brand awareness. Acer America's Canadian office, in Mississauga, Ontario, handles repair of Acer, Gateway, and E-Machine Notebooks and Desktop PCs for Eastern Canada. Acer has several facilities in Temple, Texas including a repair facility, a parts warehouse, and a call center. In the words of its Chief Executive, J.T. Wang, “Building a brand is very different in the US. The investment at the initial stage has to be very big—otherwise there is almost no impact”.^[13]

Australia

The Australian subsidiary of Acer is Acer Computer Australia (ACA). The subsidiary was established in 1990, and is currently Australia's third largest personal computer vendor, behind Hewlett-Packard Australia and Dell Australia and New Zealand. Acer Computer Australia has Australia's highest overall market share in notebook PC and tablet PC sales. The company is also Australia's leading PC vendor in government and education markets. Acer Computer Australia has 480 employees as of 2006.

India

Acer's subsidiary in India is Acer India (Pvt) Limited, and was incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Acer Computer International, Ltd. in 1999. It is a notable vendor in key segments such as education, desktop computers and low profile notebooks for education. The headquarters are in Bangalore, India. It has however been extensively criticized for poor after sales service and multiple other issues that have plagued its customers.

Linux

Acer has shipped some of their notebooks and more recently netbooks, with various Linux operating system distributions including Ubuntu, Linpus, Android (in a dual boot environment with Windows XP), and Google Chrome OS. They have also launched a line of smartphones and tablets with Android.

Products

Acer Aspire 8920G Notebook

Acer AC700 Chromebook

Acer Aspire 3610 Notebook

Acer Aspire 5520 Notebook

Acer Aspire 4520 Notebook

Acer Aspire One

Chromebook

On 11 April 2011, Google announced that Acer will be offering Chromebook laptops starting 15 June. Acer's Wi-Fi only Chromebook costs $349. The devices have been available for sale in the U.S. from Amazon and Best Buy since July 2011. ^[14]

Consumer Desktops

• Acer Aspire Desktop series
• Acer Aspire Predator series

Business Desktops

• Acer Veriton series

Consumer Notebooks

• Acer Aspire Notebook series
• Acer Aspire Timeline series
• Acer Ferrari products series
• Acer Iconia

Business Notebooks

• Acer TravelMate series
• Acer Extensa series

Tablet

• Acer Tablet series

Netbook

• Acer Aspire One
• Ferrari One

Nettop

• AspireRevo

Mobile phones

• Acer Tempo series
• Acer Liquid
• Acer beTouch
• Acer neoTouch
• Acer Stream
• Acer E110

Home Network Solution

• Acer Clear.fi

Computer displays

• G Series
• P Series
• H Series
• X Series
• B Series
• V Series
• S Series
• T Series
• D Series
• MO Monitor TV series

Projectors

• Professional Series
• Home Series
• Travel Series
• Value Series

Television

• AT Series

Servers and storage

• Acer server F1 series
• Tower series: T110 F1, T115 F1, T150 F1, T310 F1, T350 F1;
• Rack series: R160 F1, R180 F1, R320 F1, R360 F1, R380 F1, R385 F1, R585 F1;
• Blade series: B2x285 F1, B2x280 F1, B460 F1;
• Gemini series: B1170 F1, B2170 F1, B2170t, B2175 F1
• Home Server Series: H340, H341, H342, Altos Easystore M2
• Acer storage series
• N500 F1, N1600 F1, HNAS3080, GS2040, AMS2100, AMS2300

Other (discontinued devices)

• Digital cameras
• Personal digital assistants
• Automotive navigation systems
• Acer PICA

Brands

• Acer
• eMachines
• Gateway
• Packard Bell
• E-TEN

Environmental record

In 2005, Acer published its first environmental report, for which the company used the GRI guidelines.^[15] All of Acer’s tier-one suppliers have acquired ISO 14001 certification.^[16]

In November 2011, Acer was ranked 12th place out of 15 in Greenpeace’s re-launched Guide to Greener Electronics, with the a score of 2.9 points out of 10. The Guide ranks electronics makers according to their policies and practices to reduce their impact on the climate, produce greener products, and make their operations more sustainable.^[17]

Greenpeace criticized the company for not setting out targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as intended in 2010 and for not providing external verification for the GHG emissions it reports for its operations and business travel. It also scored badly on the Products criteria receiving no points on product life cycle while Greenpeace noted that a higher percentage of its products need to meet or exceed Energy Star standards in order for it to score more points.^[17]

It received some praise for launching new products which are free from polyvinyl chloride plastic (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and the company informed Greenpeace that the majority of its products will be PVC/BFR free in the near future. Acer also scored well on chemical management for lobbying for restrictions on organo-halogens and was commended for reporting on GHG emissions from its first tier suppliers and investigating its second tier. ^[17]

Sponsorships

Sports

Acer sponsored the BAR-Honda Formula One racing team in the year 2000.^[18] In 2001, Acer provided sponsorship to the Prost Grand Prix Formula One team, and the team's Ferrari engines were badged as Acers.

Acer currently sponsors the Ferrari Formula 1 team and it's Top Sponsor of FC Internazionale – Milano (Inter Milan) Football Club. From 2007 to 2009 Acer has been Official Supplier of FC Barcelona.^[19] On 19 March 2007, Acer announced it will sponsor the Factory Fiat Yamaha Team for the 2007 MotoGP World Championship season. From 2009, Packard Bell (that it is part of Acer Group) is the sponsor of Yamaha Factory Racing Team.^[20] since 2010 Acer support Army United F.C. the Thai football team of the Thai Premier League

Acer also currently sponsors professional gaming team SK Gaming.

Acer has been Worldwide TOP Partners for both the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and Singapore Youth Olympic Games. Acer will be TOP Partner of next London 2012 Summer Olympics.

Other

Acer Arena, at Sydney Olympic Park, NSW, is the largest indoor live entertainment and sporting arena in Australia. It was formerly named the Sydney Superdome.

Designed and constructed by Abigroup Ltd in conjunction with Obayashi Corporation, the venue is acknowledged by experts as equal to the finest indoor arenas in the world today.

One of the major venues for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and Paralympic Games, Acer Arena hosted artistic gymnastics, trampoline, the basketball finals and wheelchair basketball.

The $200 million complex was designed and constructed to set new benchmarks in urban design, access for people with disabilities, spectator comfort, operation efficiency and Olympic serviceability.

The project comprises three subsites:

• Acer Arena, a 21,000 seat fully enclosed arena built under a 'Build, Own, Operate & Transfer' (B.O.O.T.) contract: $190 million
• 3400 space car park designed for high volume traffic entry and egress under a design and construct contract: $25 million
• Plaza and external works covering over 32,000m² under a management contract then converted to a lump sum: $25 million

Acer Arena was designed and constructed with very high environmental values and was awarded the prestigious national Banksia Award for Construction Practices in 1999.

Officially opened by the former Premier of New South Wales, Bob Carr, in November 1999 with a gala performance by Luciano Pavarotti, Acer Arena has hosted events including Supercross, tennis, rock concerts, arena musicals, religious services, school spectaculars and banquets.

See also

• Microprofessor I, Acer's first product
• BenQ, formerly Acer CM
• ALi, formerly Acer Laboratories Incorporated
• AOpen, formerly AcerOpen
• ACC (computer company)
• List of computer system manufacturers
• List of companies in Taiwan
• eMachines
• Gateway, Inc.
• Packard Bell
• E-TEN

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, Bart Sleb, 2005
2. ^ "About Acer – Milestones". Acer. Archived from the original on 2006-07-08. http://web.archive.org/web/20060708175102/http://global.acer.com/about/milestones.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-07. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Encyclopedia of Business, 2nd ed.
4. ^ "Gianfranco Lanci is appointed President of Acer Inc., effective January 2005" (PDF). Acer. 2004-09-01. Archived from the original on 2007-04-03. http://web.archive.org/web/20070403125915/http://www.acer.co.in/press/New_President.pdf. Retrieved 2007-04-27. 
5. ^ "PC market surged in 2005, will settle in 2006". cnet. 2006-01-18. http://news.com.com/PC+market+surged+in+2005,+will+settle+in+2006/2100-1003_3-6028454.html. Retrieved 2007-07-07. 
6. ^ 6:00 p.m. ET (2007-08-27). "Taiwan's Acer to buy PC maker Gateway - World business". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20458321/. Retrieved 2009-04-07. 
7. ^ "Acer Buys 75 Percent of Packard Bell making it the 2nd largest computer maker in the world". Washington Post. 2008-01-31. Archived from the original on 2010-01-17. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/31/AR2008013101390.html. Retrieved 2009-04-07. 
8. ^ "http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/blog/eyeonasia/archives/2009/10/acer_passes_del.html". Business Week. 2009-10-15. http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/blog/eyeonasia/archives/2009/10/acer_passes_del.html. Retrieved 2010-04-23. 
9. ^ Acer to buy cloud computing firm iGware - The Globe and Mail
10. ^ Don Reisinger, CNET. "Acer to acquire cloud-service provider iGware." July 21, 2011. Retrieved July 22, 2011.
11. ^ Dan Nystedt (2010-04-29). "Acer to Launch Full Line of Mobile Internet Devices in May". PCWorld (IDG News). http://www.pcworld.com/article/195202/acer_to_launch_full_line_of_mobile_internet_devices_in_may.html. Retrieved 2011-02-17. 
12. ^ Tim Culpan (2010-04-29). "Acer Profit Climbs After Overtaking H-P in Laptop Market Share". Businessweek (Bloomberg). http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-29/acer-profit-climbs-after-overtaking-h-p-in-laptop-market-share.html. Retrieved 2011-02-17. 
13. ^ quoted in Einhorn, 2009
14. ^ AC700 Home
15. ^ The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a multi-stakeholder process and independent institution whose mission is to develop and disseminate globally applicable Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.
16. ^ ISO 14001 was released in 1996 with the intent that companies manage all of the activities, products and services that can significantly impact the environment
17. ^ ^{a b c} "Guide to Greener Electronics - Greenpeace International". http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/climate-change/cool-it/Guide-to-Greener-Electronics/. Retrieved November 16 2011. 
18. ^ About Acer – News Release^{[dead link]}
19. ^ About Acer – News Release Archived February 19, 2007 at the Wayback Machine
20. ^ "02.02.2009 Packard Bell sponsor of Yamaha Factory Racing Team : Changeover of sponsorship from Acer" (PDF). http://www.packardbell.com/NR/rdonlyres/841AAED9-A03E-43F4-812F-0B76FE4F387D/1061/pb_yamaha_sponsorship.pdf. Retrieved 2009-04-07. ^{[dead link]}

External links

	Taiwan portal
	Companies portal

• Official website
• Acer Group (Chinese)
• Gateway
• Packard Bell
• eMachines
• Glofiish
• E-TEN