A natural evolution
Acer had also recently acquired European PC maker Packard Bell and identified its CEO - Aymar de Lencquesaing (pictured below) - as the man it wanted to head-up its smartphone operations.
To find out what the grand plan is, HEXUS.channel spoke exclusively to de Lencquesaing and started by asking him the reasoning behind Acer's entry into the smartphone market.
"It's a natural evolution - our success is deeply rooted in mobility so it's natural to look at this category and it's a move further validated by the market potential," said de Lencquesaing
When we asked why he has been chosen to head-up the smartphone side of things, de Lencquesaing explained that he had been involved in bringing many handheld consumer electronics devices, like MP3 players and satnavs to market at Packard Bell.
"We wanted to tap into a reservoir of talent," said de Lencquesaing, when asked about the E-Ten acquisition. "We went into stealth mode for a while after the acquisition and did a lot of market research to establish what people want to do with these products."
"We adopted a strategy of multiple devices for multiple markets. We knew it would be an enormous market, but the barrier to entry is higher than for PCs, where ODMs do a lot of the R&D for you. It requires a lot more testing."
