Acer Inc., one of the world's leading branded PC vendors, announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Gateway, Inc. Gateway is the fourth largest PC company in the US and a leading retail PC provider. The combination will create a multi-branded PC-company with over US$15 billion in revenues and shipments in excess of 20 million PC units per year.

Acer Inc said Friday that it has filed a counterclaim of patent infringement against Hewlett-Packard Development Co before the Eastern District of Texas Court in the United States. The latest counterclaim is part of Acer's response to HP's patent infringement suit against the company filed at the same court earlier this year, Acer said in a statement. Acer claimed that HP has infringed its patents on dual-frequency antenna and DVD-ROM head technologies.

Another laptop battery recall has begun from today, when Acer Inc. announced that about 27,000 laptop batteries are defective. Again we are talking about Sony-made lithium-ion batteries that could overheat and cause a fire. The affected Acer models were sold in the U.S. and Canada from May 2004 through November 2006 for between $500 and $1,500. The laptops possibly containing the recalled batteries were the TravelMate series with 4-digit model numbers beginning with 242, 320, 321, 330, 422, 467, 561, C20, and the Aspire series beginning with model numbers 556, 560, 567, 930, 941, 980. Acer, whose U.S. division is based in San Jose, says consumers should immediately stop using the recalled batteries and contact the company for a free battery replacement. The laptops could still be safely used if powered by the AC adapter, the company said. Please click here, if you want to find out how you can replace your defective laptop battery.

According to market analyst iSupply, Acer is doing quite well for themselves. A while back, they decided that they were going to try and nab third place in global laptop sales rankings. During Q4 2006, Acer did just that. Thanks to aggressive pricing, the lackluster sales of just about everyone else, and problems with some competitor's hardware (battery recall, anyone?), Acer achieved it's goals. The only companies selling more laptops than Acer are Dell and HP. Overall, the laptop market is looking up. Analyst firm iSupply forecasts over 98.3 million laptop sales this year, up 23.5% from last year.

Acer's LCD monitor family just got a new member: The xSeries. Covering nearly the full range, starting from a 17 inch model up to the 24 inch one, the xSeries is completely Vista certified (whatever that means).
Prices start at US$179.99 for the x171s (17") and go all the way up to US$599.99 for the x241Wsd (24").

Acer now offers a full range of LCD monitors, ready and tested by WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Labs) for Windows Vista compliance. Acer's widescreen LCD monitor lines include 20", 22", 24" and 26" sizes with 16:10 display ratio to give plenty of onscreen space for applications, and extra room on the side for Vista's Sidebar, Office2007, Vista Media Center, Internet Explorer 7's Tab Browsing, Navigation, Preview pane or Reading Pane modes of Explorer. Acer LCD monitors will now carry a Vista-certified logo, indicating clearly to purchasers that the devices can enable additional or enhanced capabilities. The corresponding lines/models are: ALxx1x series for Value, Xxxx series for X, ALxx2x series for Office, and ALxx5x series for the Performance and Gamers line.