Midmarket: Growing MSI Mobile Portfolio Challenges Dell, HP, Acer

Few manufacturers are more prolific these days than MSI Computer, which since the ringing in of 2010 has introduced 24 new mobile PCs, including notebooks and netbooks. The relatively little-known MSI describes itself as being based in the City of Industry, California, but Endpoint Technologies analyst Roger Kay clarifies that it's Micro-Star International, a Taiwanese ODM that's recently entered the branded space. Such companies are rolling the dice, Kay tells eWEEK, gambling that there is more money to be made selling branded products than they stand to lose by angering their OEM customers. The risk, he says, is that OEM customers such as Dell, HP and Acer will cut them off if they appear to be making real market-share inroads.