Hot on the heels of a great quarter.  Acer is looking to take on HP and become the top shipper of computers worldwide.

Acer, which is a combination of Emachines, Gateway, and Acer brands has seen sharp growth in the netbook category. 

According to PC World:

Netbooks, mini-laptops with long battery life, have been part of that success.

The company estimates sales of the devices could reach 40 million units next year, after hitting 25 million to 30 million this year. “The U.S. is by far the best country in the world for the netbook,” said Gianfranco Lanci, president and CEO of Acer, at the conference. Europe is probably second, he said.

The entire PC industry is undergoing a revival, Lanci said. Desktops returned to slightly positive growth from a drop and notebook sales are up. Next year, laptop sales will return to 25 percent to 30 percent year-on-year growth, he said.

As netbooks die, and small laptop begin to take over Acer will be in great position since they have the low price segment all to themselves.

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5. Global Netbook Sales Slow During Q1 2009