Friday Acer founder Stan Shih described the current excitement over both Ultrabooks and tablets as "fads" and "short-term phenomena," and urged fellow notebook manufacturers to produce more value-added products through innovation. This means possibly taking Apple's approach when it came to designing the original iPad: using an "outside-of-the-box" approach.
According to DigiTimes, someone during a news conference commented that by bringing the iPhone and iPad into the PC sector, Apple is essentially competing with other PC manufacturers and creating a great impact on the overall demand for PCs. Shih responded by saying that PCs are still the base of the IT industry, and that tablets are developed from this base. That said, future products will still need to go through the PC platform "to create even more add-on value."
Despite a call to arms, Acer still intends to ride the tablet wave. Shih admitted that consumers want products with low prices and tons of convenience, and each player in the tablet sector needs to accept this fact. He said that current competition within the tablet market is "still on track for positive development."
Back in June, Acer reportedly slashed its full-year shipment target for tablets by almost 60-percent. Chairman J.T. Wang told reporters after a shareholder meeting that the new target for tablet shipments this year was 2.5 to 3 million units – originally Acer planned for 5 to 7 million units at the beginning of the year. 800,000 tablets are expected to be sold in each of the second and third quarters.
Back in April Acer said that it will "aggressively yet cautiously develop data-consumption products, tablet PCs and smartphones based on the solid foundation of the main PC business." The news arrived after Acer's board of directors appointed Jim Wong as corporate president.