Acer takes 13 years to become global brand

THE ANALYST WING of Pat McGovern's megapublishing empire said that Taiwanese firm Acer was the fifth biggest brand in PC sales in Europe, last year.

IDC (International Data Corporation) put Acer fifth after HP/Compaq, Dell, Fujitsu/Siemens and IBM.

This is likely to send former CEO of Acer, Stan Shih, into paroxysms of delight.

Thirteen years ago we attended our first Computex show in Taipei, to find that Acer had bankrolled other UK journalists on a press trip where we learnt a shocking truth.

Which was that IDG, where we worked for a time, had a travel budget of its own, which we plundered on a Taipei trip, while VNU, Emap, Dennis Publishing, Reid and other firms making computer magazines, were happy to listen to a lecture from Stan.

Mr Shih lined up all the European journalists Acer had bankrolled on the trip, telling them that his firm was going to be the first Taiwanese company to become a brand.

He also wagged his fingers at them in the World Trade Center in Taipei, and told them to only write positive stories when they got back to Europe.

Because IDG had a travel budget, we didn't feel under the same geas as the rest of our colleagues so just chuckled away at their discomfort.

But while you might be able to stop people on the street in London and ask them if they'd heard of Compaq, Dell, HP and IBM, they'd probably nod, and say "of course".

If you asked them if they'd ever heard of Acer, they'd be likely to shake their heads, unless, that is, they are of an arboreal disposition. µ