Bloomberg reports that Acer will this year release an ebook reader as well as launching an application store. The company also plans to introduce its first device running Google's Chrome OS in the third quarter. If you're thinking that it sounds like Acer will be doing some serious branching out this year, you'd be right.
The reason for it all is that the company is looking to boost profits to the highest in four years. Bloomberg cites Jim Wong, president of the Acer's IT product division, as saying that moving into new products will help the company boost its net income margin to 3 percent within two years.
The app store and ereader are expected to launch in the middle of 2010. Wong said there will be plenty of applications available to users: “hundreds, otherwise you can’t call it an apps store.”