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LAS VEGAS--Acer and Gateway don't have a whole lot of news here at CES--aside from a few new gaming desktops and a laptop--but it is new that they are here as one. Their combined logos were everywhere in their displays.

The transition since Acer's purchase of Gateway late last year for $710 million is nearly complete, the company says. The same person--Rudi Schmidleithner--now runs both Gateway and Acer's American business unit.

While Acer declined to give many details about the coming year, it did hint that it's going to be a busy one. While … Read more

After a little more than a year on the job, J. Edward Coleman is stepping down as chief executive of Gateway, the company announced Friday.

He will leave Gateway by the end of January. His position will be taken over immediately by Rudi Schmidleithner, president of the American operation for Acer, the PC maker that bought Gateway this summer. Coleman joined the company as CEO in September 2006.

"Acer would like to thank Ed Coleman for his leadership and professional contribution during this period and his continued support during the leadership transition between now and the end of Jan … Read more

A new study out from DisplaySearch detailing how well (or poorly) notebook manufacturers performed over the past quarter has hit the Net and the results don't look too promising for Dell.

According to the study, the global notebook market grew by about 24 percent quarter over quarter and a whopping 42 percent year over year. Amazingly, 29 million notebook units were sold in the last quarter alone and HP--the de facto leader in computing right now--commands 21.4 percent of that total, representing 72 percent growth over the same period last year.

But perhaps most startling, Dell has not only lost ground to HP in the notebook market (its share of the market fell 0.2 percent to 13.8 percent), but Acer is hot on Dell's heels and commands 12.8 percent of the total notebook market.

It gets worse: if we were to combine the total share of all Acer properties--Acer, Packard Bell and Gateway--the company's new market share is a whopping 16.2 percent, which not only puts it into second place in the worldwide notebook market, it leaves Dell far behind the pack.

Who could have thought just a few short years ago that Dell would be in such a position? Not only is the company slipping further behind, Acer--a company that had heretofore been an also-ran--has developed into a powerhouse in this industry.

But is there anything Dell can do to turn its business around? Unfortunately, the solution may not be immediately available, and it may need to change its historically successful market strategy in order to do it. If it doesn't, look for Dell to become the industry's also-ran.… Read more

Sales of notebooks are rising worldwide, but Taiwan's Acer, in particular, is continuing its skyrocketing growth.

Market research firm DisplaySearch released its quarterly report on the notebook market Monday, and found that the market grew 24 percent during the three months of the third quarter, and 42 percent in the last year.

Hewlett-Packard remains the worldwide leader in notebooks by shipping 6.2 million portable PCs last quarter--72 percent more than the company shipped a year ago. Dell holds on to second place, but continues to lose ground, not only to HP, but to Acer.

While Dell still has … Read more

Hewlett-Packard extended its lead in the worldwide PC market in the third quarter, increasing its shipments at more than twice the rate of the rest of the industry.

Shipments from all manufacturers increased to 68.1 million, or 13.8 percent, from the previous year, and 11.1 percent from the previous quarter, according to iSuppli, a market research company that tracks the PC industry. The third quarter is traditionally a good one for computer makers because of increased purchases during the back-to-school buying season.

HP's shipments gave it claim to 19.2 percent of the PC market, followed … Read more

Two of the world's largest PC makers still can't seem to get along.

Acer is suing Hewlett-Packard again for patent violations. It's an escalation of the battle over the two companies' intellectual property that began earlier this year.

Filed in a U.S. District Court in Wisconsin and with the U.S. Internaional Trade Commission Tuesday, Acer said it is countersuing HP for infringing on its patents related to servers, PCs, and peripheral devices. HP declined to comment on Acer's suit.

HP initiated the fight in March when it sued Acer over five patents involving read/… Read more

Tiny, cheap laptops continued to dominate headlines this week. Due to unexplained problems, manufacturing for the One Laptop Per Child project's XO laptop was pushed back to mid-November; that will make it harder for Peru and Uruguay, who've placed two of the biggest orders, to get the systems in hand before the end of the school term. Despite the device's troubles, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Will Poole says the company is spending a "nontrivial" amount of money getting Windows to work on an OLPC. And the OLPC Foundation looked into cows as a source of power … Read more

Shipments of PCs to the saturated U.S. market may be declining somewhat, but the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, Africa) gave the worldwide PC market a big boost in the third quarter, according to figures released Wednesday by IDC.

PC shipments grew 15.5 percent worldwide in the past quarter. Growth in the EMEA regions, led by Hewlett-Packard and Acer, was paced by a strong demand for notebooks and back-to-school promotions, leading to the best growth rates in the region in the past two years.

"The issue is that it continues to be notebooks that are driving strong … Read more

This blog was updated at 3:30 p.m.

Gateway announced Monday that it has agreed to take over the controlling stake in Paris-based PC vendor Packard Bell.

Gateway has exercised its right of first refusal to purchase all of the shares of PB Holding Company, the parent company of Packard Bell, from Lap Shun (John) Hui and Clifford Holdings Limited, also controlled by Hui. Both companies control 75 percent of Packard Bell stock. Financial details of the transaction have not yet been disclosed.

The announcement wasn't a surprise--Gateway and Lenovo have waged a public battle over Packard Bell--with … Read more