Acer To Introduce New MID Line

Acer plans to launch a new line of mobile Internet devices (MIDs) by the end of May. The new line is part of the company's efforts to boost profitability and add to its array of mobile devices. The new MIDs will feature version 4.0 of Acer's Shell user interface and will include 3G wireless connectivity. Recognizing that people want to be connected and share information, the new MIDs will be able to interact with one another and share data.

Mobile devices such as the new MIDs, laptops, and netbooks are Acer's primary source of revenue. In the first quarter of this year, mobile computers such as laptops and netbooks accounted for 69 percent of the company's revenue. Acer currently excels in the netbook market which is expected to grow at a rate of nearly 50 percent this year.

"The netbook is still growing faster than the notebook," said Gianfranco Lanci, Acer's CEO and president. "I think growth with stabilize at 45 percent to 50 percent growth for the next two or three years."

Through the company's first-quarter investors' conference, we learned the company's revenue rose 36 percent year-on-year to NT$162.1 billion (US$5.2 billion). In addition, net profit increased 63 percent to NT$3.29 billion. While these are good results, the company said they would have been even better if not for a bottleneck in some shipments of components.

The majority (approximately 50 percent) of Acer's revenue comes from Europe; 27 percent comes from the U.S., and the Asia-Pacific region carries the majority of the rest.