SAN FRANCISCO Acer, the biggest personal-computer maker in Taiwan, may raise its share of the U.S. and Chinese markets with its agreement to make Yahoo the default search engine on its PCs and to distribute a co- branded Web browser toolbar.
Acer laptop and desktop computers will include a home page and browser toolbar from Yahoo starting Oct. 1, the companies said late Wednesday.
Yahoo is trying to increase use of its services, including e-mail, news and instant messaging, through the accord with Acer, the first such agreement for both companies. Acer shipped 2.8 million PCs in the second quarter.
The companies described the deal as a strategic partnership, with further ties to come. Financial terms were not disclosed.
On computers Acer ships starting Oct. 1, the Yahoo start page will appear automatically when an Acer customer opens a Web browser. The companies will tailor the start page for each of Acer’s main national markets. Besides the core Yahoo search service, the co- branding will also feature links to Yahoo Music, Sports and other features.
«The lineup will make Acer’s products more attractive to customers and will help our expansion in overseas markets,» Henry Wang, a spokesman at Acer, said by telephone.
Acer, based in Taipei, is the top supplier of PC notebooks in Europe as well as the world’s fourth-largest computer maker with 5.4 percent of the market, the market researcher IDC said in July.
«A higher profile will definitely help Acer grab more share in the U.S. and China markets, where branding weighs on customers’ choices,» said Daniel Chang, an analyst at Macquarie Securities in Taipei.
The company’s ranking among notebook makers in China rose to No. 4 in the second quarter from No. 7 in the fourth quarter, according to Acer. The computer maker had the largest growth in the second quarter from a year earlier among the top 10 players in terms of U.S. shipments, the company said. Acer re-entered the retail market in the United States in 2003.
The Acer-Yahoo deal is the latest of many partnerships in which major Internet companies are seeking to ensure featured status on the new version of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, the dominant Web browsing software.
Also Wednesday, Google announced a deal in which Web search services will be featured on software from Intuit aimed at small-business users. Google already has an agreement to distribute its toolbar and a personalized home page on computers made by Dell.
Fuente: International Herald Tribune
