Fly in the ointment
In an interview with Dow Jones Newswires, Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci revealed Acer will be soft-launching its first range of tablets at a major New York press event on 23 November. He said the products will be priced from $299 to $699, but wouldn't reveal any specs.
Asked about the cannibalisation of Acer's core notebook and netbook markets by tablets, Lanci said: "Both notebook and netbook markets will continue to grow by 20-25 percent next year and we will outgrow the market as usual. We expect our notebook shipment to grow by 25-30 percent next year."
"iPad is so popular because it is the only one now. I think we have a strong brand and strong distribution channels. We are in a good position to offer different solutions, not only one product... Our ultimate goal is to become leader in mobile solutions for PC products from 3-inch to 20-inch. We will add services to our products but we are not interested in the standalone service business."
Acer was an early adopter of Android for its smartphone unit - the product of the acquisition of E-Ten - but has been relatively quiet on the smartphone front this year. While we expect it to persist in this market, tablets could be a bit more in the Acer comfort zone.
One potential fly in the ointment, however, could be long-time partner Microsoft, if these tablets end up being Android-based, which seems likely. Taiwanese OEM gossip site DigiTimes recently reported that Microsoft plans to charge the likes of Acer and ASUS royalty fees for the use of patents it claims to own in Android email and multimedia functions.
As ever, this story sourced anonymously, but it's reminiscent of the legal action Microsoft has taken against former partner Motorola over similar patents within Android. Acer was also one of the companies absent from the original list of WP7 partners, and Microsoft seems to be selectively enforcing its patent claims on OEMs who haven't signed up for its new mobile OS. So this story may have substance.
