Consumers do not know what they want, according to Jim Wong, president of Acer. He believes that it is the supplier’s responsibility to figure that out. Judging by the range of products unveiled at this week’s giant Computex PC show in Taipei, the industry is not very sure either.
Acer too is hedging its bets. Not only did it present the world’s thinnest ultrabook, but also hybrid tablet-laptops. Perhaps after the past year management can be forgiven for caution. In short order the former world number two shipper of PCs (now fourth, just behind Dell) parted company with its chief executive over strategy disagreements, took a $150m charge for “questionable” accounting, saw sales drop by a quarter, and suffered its first operating loss in a decade.
This is Acer’s fightback year, as it is for other PC makers who have struggled to catch up with the popularity of tablets. They are betting on Microsoft’s Windows 8, due for release later this year. They are also taking the battle to Apple with laptops that become tablets, and new ultrabooks – Acer’s Aspire S7 ultrabook is 12mm thick compared with the MacBook’s 17mm.