Acer: We Aren't Giving Up On Tablets Just Yet

Quietly, and perhaps not so quietly, a lot of companies other than Apple are effectively throwing in the towel on tablets. And why not? The iPad owns at least 80% of the market, and with the $200 Kindle Fire now a reality, there's hardly a slot to compete on margin or quantity. Dell's Streak line is all but dead, and we're seeing fewer and fewer tablets thrown into the market from major notebook players. But Acer's not giving up. That's according to a DigiTimes report, which quotes he company's founder, Stan Shih. He has reportedly stated that " although Acer's tablet operation has not performed well, it is not time to give up the business."


Evidently the company's board has talked about their "product development and streamlining its corporate organization, and has consented to strategies of simplifying operational goals through focusing on profitable products." While quitting isn't an option on the table right now, it's still possible that adjustments in these divisions will be made if numbers don't improve. And honestly, we don't have a huge amount of faith that they will. The iPod proved that it's tough to crack a market that Apple has firmly under control, unless you battle on price -- and who is really going to match the value proposition of the Kindle Fire? Smells like a duopoly killing off the rest, in a way.