International multimedia news agency Reuters reports that former Acer (News - Alert) CEO Gianfranco Lanci has been picked by Chinese PC maker Lenovo (News - Alert). As per the report, Lanci’s new title is chief of Lenovo's operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Making a statement to the press, Lanci said, “he aims to break into the top three in the region by next year.”
In another statement reported by Reuters, Lanci said, “he sees the rise of tablet computers and other gadgets such as thin Ultrabooks, creating many new opportunities for Lenovo.” He added, “EMEA is a strategically critical market for us, and the company would focus on keeping its position in enterprise sales, while significantly expanding consumer and smaller business sales in the region.”
According to market research firm Gartner (News - Alert), Lenovo is the fastest growing PC vendor among the top five in the region with an 8.2 percent market share in the fourth quarter last year. The top four include Hewlett-Packard (News - Alert) , Acer, Asus and Dell.
The report quoted Thomas Evans, an analyst with Canalys, as saying, “Lenovo needs to strengthen its consumer brand in order to overtake Dell (News - Alert) and Asus in EMEA.”
“Lanci taking the helm of the EMEA organization is a smart move. He brings a wealth of experience and has strong relationships with the sales channel in the region,” added Evans.
Reuters reporter Tarmo Virki wrote that, “Lanci left Acer abruptly at the end of March last year after a disagreement with other board members over the strategy needed to counter the runaway success of the tablet market, which has cannibalized Acer’s profits.”
In fact, Lanci joined Lenovo as a consultant late last year. And Acer has filed a lawsuit against this move, wrote Virki. According to Acer, it breached a non-compete clause in an agreement covering his departure from the company in 2011, wrote Virki.