Acer to shadow Apple with app store, plans e-reader
updated 08:50 am EST, Mon January 25, 2010
Acer talks apps, e-book reader, Chrome OS
Acer's IT Products president Jim Wong today revealed that the company will follow Apple and develop its own app store. The portal will cover all of Acer's devices and include not just mobile platforms like Android and Windows Mobile but also desktop platforms like Windows and eventually Chrome OS. Its initial catalog will range into the "hundreds" but will skew towards low-cost or even free titles.
The move would let Acer collect royalties from app downloads, though it's not evident how the company plans to differentiate its efforts from Android Market and Windows Marketplace for Mobile, both of which are standard features of their respective platforms.
Wong also admits to BusinessWeek that Acer has been developing a tablet but also that the company is keeping an eye on Apple's plans. The OS choice remains agnostic for now and could use a Google platform or else Windows. Most firms at CES were showing Android-based tablets.
An e-reader is in development that should be shown by the end of June. It should be a conventional design with a 6-inch grayscale e-paper display. It would initially ship in as many as five European countries.
He addes that the company's already-confirmed Chrome OS netbook plans are on track and could have a system ready as soon as the summer. It's not known whether the computer will run on ARM- or Intel-based architectures, though Chrome OS has so far been shown running on Intel Atom processors.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2008
Most larger companies are playing it safe
as far as tablets are concerned. They don't want to get burned. They'll just sit back and see what Apple does. If the Apple tablet bombs, they'll likely scrap their tablet projects. If the Apple tablet hits a home run, then it'll be time to get the copiers in action.
Not that it matters because they won't have the market clout, the clientele (freely willing to spend money) or mobile platform that Apple already has in place. I don't doubt that Acer could build some nice tablet hardware, but it won't be enough without lots of content delivery.