Acer Planning MID/UMPC, Kindle Rival To Battle Tablet Revolution
Look out, guys--Acer is on the move! That's the message being spun by a
computer company on the rise, and judging by the numbers, it honestly
looks like Acer is poised to shake-up a market place long dominated by
the likes of HP, Dell and Lenovo. A recent Forbes article has taken an
interesting in-depth look at Acer, a company that doesn't receive
nearly the recognition or respect it deserves in the mainstream.
Currently, Acer's market share is only behind HP in terms of total
units shipped (based on Gartner figures), yet you rarely hear of these
guys. In fact, you probably hear about Asus and Apple more often than
Acer, and neither of those companies have total market share (for PC
sales) in the top 5.
So, what's Acer looking to do in order to get noticed going forward. First off, it seems as if getting noticed is the least of the company's concerns. Instead, they're focused on penetrating markets that have yet to be fully tapped, and in turn, satisfying those all-important shareholders. Currently, Acer has a decent grip on the consumer PC market and even in the accessory market, but places where it could still stand to steal away share are in their targets: education and business. Those two sectors are highly lucrative, but cracking them requires slow, methodical planning. It's tough to nab away contracts in corporations and universities where relationships are already established, but Acer is hoping that they're low cost, high service approach will convince purchasing teams to give them a second look.
What else is the company planning to do in the coming months? Compete with Apple, Dell, HP and everyone else making Tablet PCs, but not in the way that you might think. Rather than just copying the slates already out there, Acer plains to introduce "Internet gadgets that fall between smartphones and netbooks in size," with at least one direct Kindle competitor on the horizon. That's the first we've heard of E Ink and Acer mentioned at the same time, and more exciting still, the first solid confirmation that the company is hard at work on a MID and/or UMPC. Is Acer working with NVIDIA? Will their MID/UMPC finally be the one that shows up the tablet world? Will it have built-in phone capabilities? With Computex coming up soon, we're hoping to hear more about these undisclosed products in the near future. But until then, it's safe to say that Acer is playing for keeps, and they don't plan on having mercy on anyone.
So, what's Acer looking to do in order to get noticed going forward. First off, it seems as if getting noticed is the least of the company's concerns. Instead, they're focused on penetrating markets that have yet to be fully tapped, and in turn, satisfying those all-important shareholders. Currently, Acer has a decent grip on the consumer PC market and even in the accessory market, but places where it could still stand to steal away share are in their targets: education and business. Those two sectors are highly lucrative, but cracking them requires slow, methodical planning. It's tough to nab away contracts in corporations and universities where relationships are already established, but Acer is hoping that they're low cost, high service approach will convince purchasing teams to give them a second look.
What else is the company planning to do in the coming months? Compete with Apple, Dell, HP and everyone else making Tablet PCs, but not in the way that you might think. Rather than just copying the slates already out there, Acer plains to introduce "Internet gadgets that fall between smartphones and netbooks in size," with at least one direct Kindle competitor on the horizon. That's the first we've heard of E Ink and Acer mentioned at the same time, and more exciting still, the first solid confirmation that the company is hard at work on a MID and/or UMPC. Is Acer working with NVIDIA? Will their MID/UMPC finally be the one that shows up the tablet world? Will it have built-in phone capabilities? With Computex coming up soon, we're hoping to hear more about these undisclosed products in the near future. But until then, it's safe to say that Acer is playing for keeps, and they don't plan on having mercy on anyone.
