Yahoo! and Acer Form Multi-Year Partnership to Deliver Yahoo! Products and Services to Customers Worldwide

September 14, 2006; 03:47 AM
Yahoo! Inc. and Acer Inc., the world's number-four branded personal computer (PC) vendor, announced a multi-year strategic partnership to distribute a co-branded toolbar and start page and to set Yahoo! as the default search engine on all Acer PCs sold globally. The agreement gives Yahoo! prime placement on one of the PC industry's fastest-growing vendors: according to Gartner Dataquest, in Q2 2006 Acer was the number three notebook vendor worldwide, number one in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), number three in Asia Pacific, and had the largest year-over-year growth in the U.S. The partnership will give millions of Acer customers around the world easy access to trusted and vital services, such as Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, and Yahoo! Finance, from one of the Internet's most trafficked sites.

"Acer's commitment to customer satisfaction and its burgeoning global growth make it a key strategic partner for us," said Dan Rosensweig, chief operating officer, Yahoo! Inc. "Building on our strategy to partner with leading global brands, this relationship gives Yahoo! the ability to offer our services to Acer's global customer audience, giving users one-click access to Yahoo! and helping to expand our community of more than 500 million users worldwide."

Under the terms of the agreement, Acer will preload a co-branded Yahoo! and Acer toolbar and start page on Acer PCs shipped worldwide. The co-branded start page will automatically appear when an Acer customer opens a Web browser on a new laptop or desktop computer and will offer: Yahoo! content, such as news; links to Yahoo! services, such as Yahoo! Music and Yahoo! Sports; the Yahoo! Personal Assistant, as seen on Yahoo!'s new home page, for quick access to Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger and Yahoo! Local information; direct links to specific Acer customer services; and an Acer module for up-to-the-minute information on Acer news and products. The start page will reflect the look and feel of the new Yahoo! home page in order to provide Acer customers with the best and most innovative portal experience. The co-branded Yahoo! and Acer toolbar will give consumers immediate access to any of Yahoo!'s products and services from any touch point on the Web. Additionally, with the upcoming launch of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7, Acer will also set Yahoo! as the default search engine for IE7 on all of its computers.

"Yahoo!'s world-class services and proven ability to build successful relationships make them the right choice for our partnership. What's more, their global coverage with strong local engagement perfectly match Acer's company strategy," said Gianfranco Lanci, president of Acer Inc. "As Acer continues to enhance the lives of the world's PC users, the addition of Yahoo!'s services underscores our dedication to our customers and presents a further catalyst for our global growth."

Availability

Acer will begin shipment of its PCs featuring the co-branded toolbar and co-branded start page on October 1, 2006 in: Asia Pacific, Europe, North America and South America. Yahoo! and Acer will be jointly developing localized, country-specific toolbars and start pages in Brazil, Canada (English and French), France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Spain, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States (English and Spanish).

About Yahoo! Inc.

Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! seeks to provide online products and services essential to users' lives, and offers a full range of tools and marketing solutions for businesses to connect with Internet users around the world. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

About Acer Inc.

Acer ranks as the world's No. 4 branded PC vendor, designing easy, dependable IT solutions that empower people to reach their goals and enhance their life. Since spinning-off its manufacturing operation, Acer has focused on globally marketing its brand-name products: mobile and desktop PCs, servers and storage, LCD monitors and high-definition TVs, peripherals, and e-business solutions for business, government, education, and home users. Acer's unique Channel Business Model has been instrumental in the company's latest success. The model encourages partners and suppliers to collaborate in a winning formula of supply-chain management, allowing Acer to provide customers with fresh technologies, competitive pricing, and quality service. Established in 1976, Acer Inc. employs 5,600 people supporting dealers and distributors in more than 100 countries. Revenues in 2005 reached US$9.7 billion. Please visit www.acer.com.