Acer says Windows 7 good for sales

A worker holds a bag during the grand opening of Microsoft's first retail store in Scottsdale, Arizona October 22, 2009.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Taiwan's Acer Inc, the world's No.2 PC maker, said Microsoft Corp's Windows 7 operating system launch last month has been positive for year-end PC sales, though the gains were within expectations.

Acer's CEO said it was keeping its quarterly revenue outlook and maintaining a 15 percent sales growth target for next year.

The market leader in low-cost netbooks, or stripped-down laptop PCs geared for Web surfing, has said it expected sales in October-December to stay flat from the previous quarter and rise 25 percent from the previous year.

"When we saw the features of Windows 7, we already knew that it would be good for demand," Gianfranco Lanci told reporters on Thursday. "We have no plans to revise."

No.3 PC maker Dell Inc said it saw a spike in sales thanks to the Windows 7 launch. Hewlett-Packard, the world's No.1 PC maker and largest supplier of technology products, raised its annual outlook as growth in China helped its quarterly sales.

Acer, which expects 50 percent growth in the global netbook market to 42 million units in 2010, reported a quarterly net profit of $108 million last month, up 14 percent from a year earlier.

It now hopes to become the No.3 PC maker in both Japan and in China by 2011, up from about what it sees as the fifth or sixth place in both markets.

(Reporting by Mayumi Negishi; Editing by Michael Watson)