Wipro and Acer decide to go their separate ways

The Joint Venture is officially

dead, buried and hopefully it

will Rest in Peace. Wipro will buy out Acer's stake of 45% in Wipro Acer. The payment

details haven't been worked out yet but York Chen, MD Acer Singapore admitted that he

would like a premium though nothing's been finalized. Acer's financial team will fly down

shortly and work out the nitty-gritties.

Wipro still stands by its 'local

touch, global brand' slogan



Wipro will continue to be a major distributor for Acer PCs (the only one for now with more
to be appointed).

Acer to set up a subsidiary in

Bangalore



Acer is in the process of setting up a wholly owned subsidiary in Bangalore with
a manufacturing facility planned to be located in Chennai a few months down the line.

34,000 Acer PCs, servers et al shipped last year and Wipro are still gung ho about selling

Acer server with custom solutions for their clientele.

Background



Last April, Wipro had decided to resurrect its

Super Genius brand. This process culminated in Wipro PCs going from zero to 24,000 units

sold in the span of the last one year. Wipro PC sales accounted for over 40% of the sales

of the now dead Wipro Acer.

End run

Wipro Super Genius Vs the GIDs?



At the end of the day we're left wondering what exactly Wipro has in mind.
Obviously they want to strengthen the Super Genius brand and push it aggressively to

compete with the HCL's and Zeniths of the Indian branded PC world. But at the end of the

day Wipro will have to face the GID invasion that is overrunning the Indian PC market with

Intel's strong support.

Acer's branding - which way to go?



Acer will also have to find a way to make its presence felt. Today Acer isn't regarded in
quite the same breath as a Compaq or an IBM. It's brand image is somewhere in between that

of an Indian Brand which is roughly a Value for money positioning and that of a premium

MNC brand. It will be interesting to see how Acer builds its own distinct brand equity.

Indian assembling will help bring down prices but that alone won't be enough. Acer will

have to do something dramatic to push its case with the Indian buyer.