Acer pushing tablet shipments

Aaron Lee, Taipei; Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES [Wednesday 12 December 2012]

Acer originally believed that tablets would soon lose their attractiveness to consumers helping notebooks to regain their influence; however as market watchers and IT players mostly estimate giant growth in tablet shipments with volume to surpass those of notebooks in 2013, Acer has started turning aggressive about pushing its tablet shipments.

For 2013, Acer will have three major operating strategies – raising its brand position, pushing its tablet shipments, and expanding its gap with competitors in the touchscreen notebook market, according to company chairman JT Wang.

Acer is already set to announce new products in early 2013 and will also release Windows 8 Pro tablets in the second quarter of 2013, Wang noted.

Commenting about his recent meeting with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Wang noted that Microsoft's strategy of launching Surface products is unlikely to be changed in the short term, but Ballmer fully understands PC brand vendors' opinions.

Wang pointed out that Ballmer's visit to Taiwan was to discuss how to boost Windows 8 demand, and a few directions to work on were proposed for the future.

Acer estimates that its tablet shipments will reach 1.8 million units in 2012, but plans to significantly raise the volume in 2013.

Acer recently appointed Tiffany Huang as its president of PC global operations, replacing Campbell Kan who will serve as special assistant to the chairman, JT Wang. 

Both appointments shall take effect from January 1, 2013.

Acer chairman JT Wang set to push tablet shipments in 2013
Photo: Michael Lee, Digitimes file photo