Acer reported loss for the second quarter in a row, as the Taiwanese company struggles with sagging PC sales and the rise of tablets.
Acer’s net loss for the third quarter totalled NT$1.1 billion (US$36 million), lower than the company’s second quarter loss of NT$6.7 billion.
Revenue for the quarter fell 30 percent year on year, to NT$117.3 billion.
Acer, formerly the world’s third-largest PC maker, has fallen to fourth place in the market since the end of last year, according to research firm IDC. IDC said the company saw total shipments in the third quarter fall by 20.6 percent, with sales of mini-notebooks also declining.
The company’s struggles come as growth in the PC market has slowed, with shipments falling below analysts projections. A decline in spending brought on by wider weak economic conditions has caused consumers to look at other devices over the PC, according to IDC.
While most of Acer’s sales come from laptops, the company hopes to reverse its financial decline by selling tablets. Acer has previously said it expects to sell around 7 million tablets this year, with officials anticipating it will help improve revenues.
However, competition in this market is fierce: Market research firm Strategy Analytics reported Friday that Apple still held two-thirds of the tablet market in the third quarter, leaving Acer and other manufacturers of Android tablets to share 27 percent, or 4.5 million units, between them. The remaining 6.7 percent or so was composed of tablets running other operating systems, including Windows and QNX, the OS used in the BlackBerry PlayBook.