We’re going mobile, says the tech top dog.
Acer is going mobile with a range of new smartphone technologies planned as the netbook market fades, it has announced in a major shakeup of its core offering.
In another departure, it is also launching a sub brand called Iconia for “touch-based notebooks,” according to the Bangkok Post.
The smartphones will run on Google’s Android platform, although there is no indication as yet of when they might hit Australian shores or possible carriers.
The Taiwanese giant hopes its smartphone category will account for 15 percent of sales revenue, with notebooks (65 percent) and PC sales accounting for the remainder.
“We are aiming to tap the high growth of mobile touchscreen devices and shifting away from the saturated notebook market,” said Mr Harry Yang, Acer’s MD.
The laptop giant has developed Clear.fi software at their Taiwanese HQ to install in Acer products to enable users to share files across various mobile devices, according to the report.
It also plans to open its first ever “alive” app store with free and paid content on offer to customers in Thailands capital city.
“We will turn to become a service provider for mobile solutions designed to serve notebooks, netbooks, smartphones and tablet devices,” said Yang.
“We target to tap a 10% market share in the new area this year,” he said.
Just recently the maker declared their soon to be released tablet range was “aimed at phasing out netbooks. That’s the direction of the market.”
However, they later did a swift u-turn claiming “the company will not phase out netbooks in favour of tablets.”