Acer Founder Says Company Still Making Tablets in 2012
Despite reports that PC manufacturers will phase out tablets in 2012, Acer founder Stan Shih says differently Acer's 2012 plans.
Back in November, unnamed sources from the "upstream supply chain" said that Acer, Asus, and other big-name PC vendors will gradually phase out of the tablet sector in 2012. This assumption was based on poor sales of current tablet offerings, a lack of strong content support, and highly competitive price points offered by Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others.
But Acer founder Stan Shih is denying any kind of "phase out," reporting that the company will release new Android-based models in 2012. He acknowledged that both Acer's tablet and smartphone businesses haven't performed well, but he also said it wasn't time to throw in the towel. He compared the company's struggling entry into both sectors to the troubles it encountered when first entering the notebook market.
On Monday Shih indicated that Acer's board of directors had agreed to limit its upcoming smartphone and tablet offerings down to just a few niche, competitive products rather than a wide array of models. There's also indication that Acer will simplify production by merging the tablet and smartphone divisions, thus increasing operation efficiency, consolidating resources and reducing conflicts in product development.
According to Shih, this consolidation of tablet and smartphone manufacturing doesn't mean the company will lay off employees, but merely fewer product models on the market. If all goes according to plan, Acer will expand its tablet and smartphone business operations at a later date when needed.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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alyoshka That's a wise way of thinking..... As it is most of the portable devices are now being streamlined into one big single user interface, a company doing the same with it's production line makes sense too.Reply -
mman74 dtox - that's a myth perpetuated by a few people who had bad experiences. My last few Acer notebooks have just kept going and going.Reply
I liked them so much I got the Acer A501 tablet as soon as it was released. Granted it is pug ugly and heavy but it has features beyond many newer and more xpensive Android tablets, including built-in HDMI output, SD card slot and full sized USB port. If they do a Tegra 3 tablet, I may buy it as well. -
I support Acer with new production of 7" tablet cum smartphone, count me in, I definately will buy it, variety the color.Reply
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DaddyW123 It really does make sense to merge divisions. Really someone should come up with a tablet/phone combo that perfectly interact with each other for data plan sharing, as well actual screen, input and data integration.Reply