Acer: people will 'return to their senses' and drop iPad
updated 10:45 am EDT, Wed October 20, 2010
Acer chairman insists iPad has no serious impact
Acer chairman JT Wang chipped into the chorus of fellow executives downplaying the iPad in a speech at a recent Taiwan-area summit. He saw tablets becoming a more mainstream part of computing but insisted that Apple CEO Steve Jobs' view of tablets replacing computers over time couldn't be true. People would 'return to their senses' after the heat of the iPad launch and at least outside of the US would go back to traditional computers Digitimes heard.
Wang believed the iPad's early sales were the result of the typical initial rush for a new device. Since the iPad has the interest of the technology industry, many are only willing to see the positives of the design and not its setbacks, he said. He claimed that most iPad users were still switching to a regular computer to write text documents or spreadsheets and thus that it couldn't replace a desktop or notebook in every traditional area. No mention was made of apps like Documents To Go or iWork apps that have seen modest uptake for productivity use.
The chairman maintained that Acer's drop in computer market share wasn't at all sparked by the iPad and instead blamed it on other computer makers, who he said were willing to cut prices where Acer wasn't. His company lost share but stayed profitable where others were willing to shed some profit margin. No attempt was made to explain Acer's poor performance in the US, however, where Apple may pass Acer even though Apple's notebooks cost much more than many of Acer's budget-focused notebooks and netbooks.
Accordingly, Wang also dismissed the importance of delays for Acer's own tablet. Parts of the technology have 'not yet matured,' he explained. The company thus wasn't in any rush to put out a tablet since it wanted to ship when the design was right. Acer had originally promised a seven-inch Android tablet for the end of the year but has given no signs that it's close to release.





Dedicated MacNNer
Joined: Sep 1999
This egomaniac is trying to equate the iPad to the
iPad ≠netbook
Mac ≠Windows/PC
This will never change, but I don't thing he realizes that. Such an idiot.