( Gulf ) - Acer, the third largest IT vendor in the world, expects to get more than $700 million (Dh2.57 billion) in revenue in 2007 from Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), an official said.
"The industry is experiencing a considerable transformation and we have identified two segments that have driven our product offer," Emanuele Accolla, vice-president of Acer EMEA, said.
The company earned about $180 million (Dh660.6 million) in second quarter revenue from the region.
Accolla said: "Our first-and second-quarter results in the Middle East and Africa region was lower than expected due to the political instability in Turkey, which is the major market for us. But currently, sales are picking up in the country after the elections, which are expected to reflect in our third- and fourth-quarter.
The Taiwanese firm closed the second quarter with a year-on-year growth grate of 35.2 per cent. Acer has maintained its second position and strengthened its top ranking spot in the notebook sector with a 38.1 per cent growth rate compared to same period last year and a 20.3 per cent market share, almost three times the market growth, according to Gartner.
Acer shipped 1.51 million units in the second quarter compared to 1.16 million units in the first quarter of 2007 in EMEA. The company held a market share of 10.5 per cent.
Figures released by Gartner say worldwide PC shipments stood at 121.2 million in second quarter, of which desktop shipments stood at 74.9 million units and notebook shipments stood at 46.2 million units. The total PC industry grew by 12 per cent in first half.
Accolla said: "Our focus on key areas - mobility, convergence and enterprise - has given us a considerable presence in the market even though the new structure has only been operational for a few months."
" Total Gulf market is expected to grow about 20 per cent this year. We expect to grow 35 per cent overall and 50 per cent in the laptop space," said Krishna Murthy, general manager, Acer Computer Middle East.
Accolla said demand for Windows Vista had not picked up drastically. "But we are forced to sell Vista with the units."
"The only demand we see is from the consumer sector, but in corporate sector, the demand is zero. Consumers do not want Vista.
"The professional and medium scale business has bought the Vista and later downgraded to Windows XP because some applications do not run in Vista properly," he added.