Acer, who revealed last week that it plans to ship a Windows RT-based tablet later this year, will reportedly ship around 10 million units using various operating systems in 2013 alone, a 400-percent increase compared to 2012's numbers. The company is already shipping between 200K and 300K units of its 7-inch $150 Iconia B1-A71 tablet each month.
According to unnamed sources, Acer is slated to launch an 8-inch model and a 10-inch Iconia model for the entry-level segment in the near future. Once those hit the market, the company is expected to reduce the price of its 7-inch model below $130 USD. The price of the larger 8-inch and 10-inch models will be below $150 and $200 respectively.
Acer's current 7-inch Iconia B1-A71 is manufactured by Compal Electronics. However Acer is reportedly using Wistron to produce the 8-inch model, and is hoping to enter mass production by April. Both Compal and Wistron are competing to land orders from Acer for the 10-inch model.
Sources said that out of the projected shipments for 2013, Android will account for seven million units while the other three million will use a Windows-based platform. Acer has already admitted to the Windows RT models, but there's a good chance the company may also take the Intel Atom route and offer Windows Pro tablets… if the price is right, that is.
Oliver Ahrens, Acer's president of Europe, Middle East and Africa operations, confirmed with the IDG News Service during Mobile World Congress 2013 that Windows RT will be part of the company's aggressive mobile lineup for this year. ARM CEO Warran East even expressed his positive outlook on Microsoft's new platform during the show, saying that Microsoft will likely learn from its mistakes with the initial release and offer a better product in 2013.
Ahrens seemingly backed up that sentiment, saying that Microsoft needs to put more work into improving on the platform's usability, and to provide a clear value proposition.
