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Amidst media confusion, Fujitsu-Siemens will announce that it has developed a common PC offering with Fujitsu, to complete the joint-venture's hardware range.
Previously the two companies sold a number products under their respective brands with the same technical specifications, including a range of laptops, handheld computers, computer peripherals, servers, storage devices and mainframe computers. Until now, the two businesses did not sell a common PC.
But story this week, carried in Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun, said that the two companies planned to integrate their operations worldwide, a move which would have made the combined company the fourth largest PC manufacturer in the world, after Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Dell.
However, a spokesperson for Fujitsu-Siemens told ElectricNews.Net that the two business are simply planning to sell a new PC that, like many products in its existing range, will have the same specifications under both the Fujitsu brand an under the Fujitsu-Siemens brand. Full details about the computer will be unveiled on October 09 at the company's October Festival exposition in Augsburg, Germany.
Fujitsu-Siemens was formed as a 50-50 joint venture in 1999 through the merger of the European computer operations of global giants Fujitsu and Siemens. Most of its sales are in Europe, with Germany alone accounting for about half of revenues. The company employs more than 7,000 people in 25 countries across EMEA. Fujitsu-Siemens employs 20 people in Ireland in a sales and marketing operation.
The joint venture has enjoyed profitability and increasing market share, even as the European market for hardware has been contracting. The company finished its second full financial year in May, with a pre-tax profit of EUR29 million.
Fujitsu-Siemens Computers achieved its strongest growth in the laptop segment. While the laptop market in EMEA grew by 14.9 percent overall, Fujitsu-Siemens Computers recorded a growth of over 27 percent. In Western Europe the company enjoyed growth of 22.5 percent, while total demand for laptops grew by only 13 percent.
Fujitsu-Siemens Computers has also extended its market share in the desktop PC market and is the number one supplier to the consumer desktop market in Western Europe with a market share of 11.4 percent. The company is the number one supplier of consumer PCs in Germany, Spain, Switzerland and the Nordics. Fujitsu-Siemens Computers has also gained market share in the shrinking Commercial Desktop segment with a market share of 10.2 percent.
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