Acer Inc, which replaced United States-based Dell as the world's No. 2 personal computer maker in the third quarter, expects sales on China's mainland and Hong Kong to surge more than 50 percent annually in 2010, which will help it catch up with the US firm in the domestic market, the Taiwan-based firm said yesterday.

Acer will launch the next-generation netbooks that can run on dual-operating systems - Windows 7 and Google's Android - which are expected to be on sale in China by the end of this year, said Arthur Chen, Acer's East China director.

"The new operating system, upgraded netbook and expanded distribution channels will help us win market share here," Chen said in an interview at the Electronic Manufacturer Exposition in Suzhou yesterday.

Microsoft Corp yesterday launched Windows 7, the next generation of the Windows operating system.

Acer aims to raise its market share to 10 percent by the end of the fourth quarter from about 8 percent in the previous quarter, which will help the PC maker grab third position from Dell in the domestic PC market, said Chen.

In the second quarter, Acer ranked No. 4 in China with a market share of 8.4 percent, behind leaders Lenovo Group Ltd, Hewlett Packard Inc and Dell with 9.6 percent, according to International Data Corp, a US-based firm.

"The growth in the retail and consumer segments and the impact of falling prices are reflected in gains by HP and Acer," said Loren Loverde, an IDC analyst.

Acer benefited from the consumer demand for netbooks, which refer to a smaller version of a notebook with basic Internet functions and are priced reasonably. Dell depends more on corporate business which has been hit by the global financial crisis.

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