Taiwan’s PC maker Acer said Tuesday it has become the top portable computer vendor in Canada, beating out Dell and Hewlett-Packard as it moves to strengthen its North American presence.

In the third quarter of 2005, sales of Acer’s notebook computers soared 303 percent, giving the company a 21.8 percent share of portable PC sales in Canada. The company is already the leader in mobile computers in several large European countries including France, Spain, and Poland.

Acer, currently fourth in overall global PC shipments worldwide, has long planned to make inroads in the North American market. Acer president Gianfranco Lanci said in October that the company aims to surpass Lenovo for third place worldwide by 2007, in part by doubling North American sales to $2 billion (see Acer Eyes Dell with Notebooks).

One IDC analyst said Acer’s success in the Canadian mobile market signals the company could meet its goals, given enough time.

“Canada is kind of their first real shot at the North American market,” analyst Steve Clough said. “If 2007 is the objective, they could grow their share in North America.”

Canada, however, is not a huge market. With about 33 million inhabitants, it has a smaller population than the U.S. state of California, with about 36 million inhabitants.

Following Acer, the top mobile PC vendors in Canada in descending order are Dell, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, Apple, and Gateway. In the United States, Mr. Clough said, that ranking is almost the same except Dell tops the list and Acer is No. 7.

Effective Strategy

Rudi Schmidleithner, president of Acer America, credited the company’s business model, in which Acer offers products through channel partners rather than through a direct sales department. The company said its strategy “has been very effective in building market momentum” globally.

“If you look at Acer across the board worldwide, they’ve really focused on market share,” Mr. Clough said.

But that could backfire. Dell, known for low prices that maintain its market share, posted lower-than-expected sales in its last two quarters and lowered expectations for the current quarter (see Dell Cuts 4Q Guidance).

And unlike Dell, which has begun courting the higher end of the market, Acer must maintain its sights on the market’s low end (see Dell Rolls Out Luxury PCs).

“For market share, you have to go where the market is widest,” Mr. Clough said. The competition will be rough, as other companies, like Lenovo, are “well-positioned” to tackle the same markets as Acer, he said.

And Acer, too, has felt the crunch plaguing its rivals. For the third quarter of 2005, it posted a profit of T$1.97 billion ($44.94 million), lower than the T$2.37 billion expected by 12 analysts surveyed by Reuters (see Acer Profits Miss Forecasts).

But that profit was 38 percent higher than what Acer earned the same quarter a year ago.

“Our execution during the quarter allowed us to further strengthen our relationships with both the channel and our retail partners,” said Mr. Schmidleithner. “This growth indicates great things to come for Acer.”