Knowledge Is Power

 


Unknown is whether the Acer brand will continue to become popular in the U.S. In today’s conference call about the Gateway acquisition, Acer President Gianfranco Lanci said he plans to keep all three brands (that’s Acer, Gateway and eMachines).
But it hasn’t been determined how the brands will be presented to consumers. Gateway could be the premium brand in the U.S., but not overseas. Emachines, however, will probably still be the low-end brand since its computers start in the sub-$400 range.
However they decide and whether or not the acquisition is completed, expect to hear more about Acer. The company is determined to dominate the computer industry. Today’s news will make the combined company the world’s third largest PC maker, ahead of Lenovo.
And another Gateway tidbit from today, the Irvine company is buying the Packard Bell brand as part of an agreement with Lap Shun “John” Hui, the former owner of eMachines who still owns a 4.9 percent stake in Gateway. He gave Gateway the first right to Packard Bell and Gateway said early Monday that it will take Hui up on his offer.
That means, said David Daoud, an IDC analyst, Acer will be just a tad larger than Dell in Europe at 16.8 percent vs. Dell’s 16 percent.
Good for consumers? That, too, is not known. Lanci with Acer says this gives consumers and retailers more choice at the store. Daoud’s take is that this is definitely good for Gateway. For consumers? That remains to be determined.

Acer has been around since the 1970s, though I remember the brand most from the 1990s, when I bought my first computer. It was one of the companies that attempted to add color and design to the personal computer, hiring Frog Designs to come up with a sleeker design in a day when most PCs were beige (remember bland beige?). Acer Aspires were available in the then-shocking colors of charcoal gray and emerald green (image below).
But then, Acer disappeared. Even as a tech reporter covering computers, I had almost forgotten what happened to the Taiwanese company.
In 2001, Acer reorganized and split its two main product lines into two companies. Computers continued under Acer. Its monitors and other peripherals became BenQ, which is alive and well and has its U.S. headquarters in Irvine.
And then about two years ago, Acer started coming back. The Ferrari laptop caught my attention. But I haven’t paid close enough attention. Apparently in two years, Acer has gone from the nation’s No. 8 PC seller to No. 5, just behind Gateway. It’s U.S. market share in the second quarter, according to market researcher International Data Corp., grew to 5.2 percent. Not bad, considering Gateway’s was 5.6 percent.

Stan Shih was more than a typical business executive or a computer expert.  Instead, Shih is one of the few executives who made an effective transition between the very different worlds of engineering/computer programing and multi-billion dollar business executive.  Shih’s significance to the world began in 1971.  At that time, the Taiwan-born developer created Taiwan’s first desktop calculator.  Successfully marketing his calculator, Shih did not rest on his first major industrial accomplishment.  Instead, the next year, Shih helped form Qualitron Industrial Group and spearheaded the creation of the pen watch.
What Stan Shih became known for, at least in Asia, was founding a little computer company called Multitech International Corp.  Multitech International Corp. grew and it soon evolved into a computer manufacturer known as Acer.  Shih led the company from a $25,000 startup to become one of the largest computer manufacturers on Earth.  When Shih left Acer in 2004, it was fifth in the personal computer vending market.
In his tenure as Founder and CEO of Acer, virtually every respectable publication in the business world named him one of the most influential people in the world.  In 2006, Time Magazine credited Shih with revolutionizing Taiwan’s industrial sector to create the infrastructure to make it a dominant PC-manufacturer.  Shih deserves those accolades; it was his leadership and skill that nurtured the developing market to make it one of the most important technology sectors in history.  Far from the toys and trinkets Taiwan produced before, Shih’s Acer made a viable, seemingly limitless, production industry for the country.
Since retiring from the day-to-day management of Acer, Stan Shih has shifted his focus to business pursuits.  Never forgetting how the IT industry made his career, Stan Shih founded iD SoftCapital, which is a financing company for emerging technology companies.  As the Group Chairman of iD SoftCapital, Stan Shih continues to shape the technology world by making business decisions that fund what he believes are the most profitable emerging technologies.
From the desktop calculator to the next generation of computer and electronics products, Stan Shih has left an indelible footprint on the world!
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People who read this blog are probably familiar with Acer, which seemed to spring out of nowhere in the past two years. We all “oohhed and ahhed” at its hot Ferrari laptops (on right), inspired by the Formula One race car.