Acer: We'll Take Half The Netbook Market In 2009

When ASUS president Jerry Shen said on Friday that the company would take 30-percent of the netbook market in 2009, most people nodded sagely, looked at the sales figures for the Eee PC and agreed that it was entirely possible.  Now, Acer are upping the stakes with their own predictions, and they're even more ambitious: company president Gianfranco Lanci has said that Acer will take 40 to 50-percent of the netbook market next year, and they're envisaging it being even bigger.

ASUS' estimates for total netbook sales are 20-25 million units in 2009, out of which they expect to ship between 6 and 7.5 million.  Acer, meanwhile, see it as growing to 30 to 35 million units, with them shipping 12 to 15 million.  The company shipped around 2.4 million of its Acer Aspire One in Q3, and claims that demand is growing in the US; total sales for 2008 are expected to exceed the 5-6m goal.

In the past quarter Acer took consolidated revenues of NT$159.2 billion (US$5 billion), representing 31-percent increase on the same quarter last year.  Net profit after tax was US$95 million.