Acer America Corp is bragging of record sales of its Aspire personal computer line despite a slow industry-wide holiday selling period. In the second half of the year, Acer claims its retail sales rate is almost triple that of the first half of 1997. The company estimates it will sell more than 100,000 Aspire systems in the fourth quarter. Acer attributes the increase in sales to its focus of delivering what it calls full-featured PCs to the first-time home PC buyer for under $1,000. It also cites recent expansion into mainstream retail outlets such as Wal-Mart and Sears. Two-thirds of the home PCs sold by Acer in Q4 to date were priced below $1,000, so it remains to be seen whether the boost in sales will translate into bottom line performance. Acer says its computers are now available in over 4,000 retail locations throughout the US and Canada, more than double its retail distribution last year.
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