Acorn grows its reseller base

Nostalgic PC brand Acorn has recruited 100 resellers and appointed its first distributor, in the first four months since it announced its comeback (CRN, 15 May). The vendor does not launch officially until next week.

Speaking exclusively to CRN, Shahid Sultan, UK operations director at Acorn, said: “We spoke to a few distributors, including Ingram Micro, but felt we wouldn’t get the attention we deserved from one of the larger guys so decided to go with Global Comm.”

Global Comm specialises in distributing mobile products. Acorn will initially offer four notebook ranges aimed at the SME, education, retail and large corporate sectors.

“We’re not looking to go head-to-head with Dell, as people will be able to tell from our prices. We’re aiming more at the mid- to high-end of the market. I would compare our notebooks to Sony’s Vaio notebooks; they have very similar features and functionality,” Sultan said.

Andy Haywood, UK channel manager at Global Comm, said: “By working with just a handful of vendors we offer a more targeted, concentrated approach, which is one of the reasons why Acorn chose us.”

Sultan revealed that Acorn would be bringing out a desktop offering in the first quarter of next year and might bring on board another distributor.

However, Jonathan Wall, marketing director at dabs.com, said: “Unless a vendor has a unique selling point it will be difficult to enter the market at the moment. Acorn needs to find a very good niche to survive.”

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Acorn cultivates channel as it makes comeback