Acer's Founder Says Tablet PCs Are Short Term Fads

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Acer's Founder Says Tablet PCs Are Short Term Fads

engine

5:12 pm on Aug 5, 2011 (gmt 0)

Acer's Founder Says Tablet PCs Are Short Term Fads [digitimes.com]

Acer founder Stan Shih has commented that the fads for ultrabooks and tablet PCs are both short-term phenomena and urged companies in the notebook supply chain to come out with more value-added products through innovation.

Shih added that Apple achieved success with iPad through its outside-the-box thinking, which is an attitude that all notebook players should learn.

Commenting on Apple bringing tablet PC and smartphone products into the PC market to compete with PC players and creating a great impact on PC demand, Shih pointed out that PCs are the base of the IT industry and tablet PCs are also developed from the base; therefore, in the future, products will still need to go through the PC platform to create even more add-on value.

Robert Charlton

5:57 pm on Sep 3, 2011 (gmt 0)

Link to the above article, which apparently is the original source, isn't working for me.

Here's a link that references the above and appears to work even after I strip off the session ID, and apparently adds some additional perspective to the original story... [crn.com...]

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 6:04 pm (utc) on Sep 3, 2011]

jmccormac

6:00 pm on Sep 3, 2011 (gmt 0)

A Wang moment? (Anyone remember those computers?)

Regards...jmcc

Robert Charlton

8:12 pm on Sep 3, 2011 (gmt 0)

A Wang moment? (Anyone remember those computers?)

Not sure precisely what you mean by "those computers". If you're talking about the Wang Computers from the early 70s (Dr An Wang), that's a different Wang from Acer chairman JT Wang, who recently became the new CEO. (Or are you talking about Acer's netbooks?)

The CRN article quotes industry figure Todd Swank, who feels that Shih's comments are Acer's attempt to cover their tracks because they lost a lot of market share to the iPad.

The article also comments, quoting Swank...

"For him to say the tablets and Ultrabooks are a fad makes it sounds like people are going to switch back to notebooks, but I don't think that will happen at all," said Swank. "To say that something new will replace the tablets and Ultrabooks makes some sense, but it's easy to say that something else is coming. I don't think that the product that is going to make them a fad is on the marketplace yet."

Acer's been slow to release its 7" Honeycomb table for $300 (announced but apparently not yet available), so this could be all about maintaining buzz. The 7" Acer has received mixed anticipatory comments... [engadget.com...]

In part, some of the difficulties with Honeycomb overall are being attributed to Google... [zdnet.com...]

jmccormac

9:44 pm on Sep 3, 2011 (gmt 0)

It was Wang Computers (Wang Laboratories). They failed to adapt to a changing market from what I remember.

Regards...jmcc

Robert Charlton

9:56 pm on Sep 3, 2011 (gmt 0)

They failed to adapt to a changing market from what I remember.

jmcc - Thanks. It would have been clearer if Acer's chairman didn't have the same last name. ;)

The zdnet article is worth reading, as it cites the issues of competing with Apple in this market... particularly those of app development for the Honeycomb platform and how Google current doesn't seem to be addressing them. This of course affects manufacturers of Honeycomb devices.