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Acer CEO resigns as company posts record loss
Just 24 hours after one tech heavyweight lost its CEO, another has been forced to bow out of the game. After his company posted a huge loss and wrote off a chunk of value from sub-brands Gateway and Packard Bell, Acer CEO and Chairman JT Wang has decided to resign. In an email statement, the executive expresses regret that he couldn't lead the firm back to prosperity and takes responsibility for the recent spate of huge losses. In the wake of the news, current president Jim Wong will assume the role of CEO on January 1st, while company founder Stan Shih will head up a transition committee as JT Wang serves the remainder of his tenure as chairman -- which is due to end in June of next year.
Acer president sees 'no value' in building a Windows RT tablet right now
Ever since Acer's Linxian Lang said that Microsoft would eat "hard rice" for building its own Windows RT hardware, the company has treated the operating system with something bordering on contempt. When asked about Acer's long-gestating RT device, Acer president Jim Wong said "to be honest, there's no value doing [hardware for] the current version of RT." Given the underwhelming interest in RT gear that other companies have reported, we're not sure if Wong's comments qualify as a sick burn or merely kicking an adolescent piece of software when it's down.
Acer delays Windows RT tablets as it gauges Surface acceptance
Acer is no stranger to airing its skepticism of Microsoft Surface, but the company is now adopting caution as the name of the game for its own Windows RT tablets. In an interview with Reuters, company president Jim Wong told the outlet that Acer would deliver its own RT-based tablet no earlier than Q2, as it's now monitoring how Microsoft's own hardware fares in the marketplace. According to Wong, Acer had previously targeted a Q1 debut. As it lets Microsoft serve as the canary in the coal mine, Acer will continue to focus on its full-fledged Windows 8 hardware, as well as develop and refine its own RT offering. "I don't know what's next, what Microsoft will do," Wong said. "We are watching how Surface is doing ... How is RT accepted by customers... We don't know... We want to see."
DigiTimes: Acer eyes Ultrabook price drop for next year, bigger cuts coming in 2013
Having recently affirmed its commitment to the netbook, Acer is now reportedly looking to boost its Ultrabook sales, with the help of a handsome price cut. Citing company president Jim Wong, DigiTimes reports that Acer will slash the price of its Ultrabook offerings by as much as 20 percent next year, dropping them from around $1,000 to between $800 and $900. The cut, expected to go into effect during Q2 2012, will be followed by a subsequent reduction to $500 in 2013, when Acer expects more vendors to enter the market. The hope is that the manufacturer will be able to reclaim some of the ground it's lost to competitors in recent months, though it remains to be seen whether or not the strategy pays dividends.
Acer riding shotgun on quad-core bandwagon, confirms Tegra 3 tablet coming next year
The web was rife with scuttlebutt yesterday that the artist formerly known as Kal-el would make an appearance in an Acer slate next year. In response, Acer's President Jim Wong has confirmed that the company will, indeed, be bringing a quad-core tablet to market in 2012. Unfortunately, Wong failed to mention any other details about Acer's next Android slate, though he did say the company plans to "remain very aggressive" on the tablet front. We're not sure what that means, but we do know we can't wait to see the results of that aggression -- who's up for a quad-core cage match between the unnamed Acer and a Transformer Prime?
Acer lowers forecast for tablet, notebook shipments, blames limping European economy
Acer had high hopes for 2011, but it looks like its expectations may have been a bit too optimistic. Today, the company issued revised forecasts for shipments of its tablet PCs, predicting to move between 2.5 and three million units by year's end -- down from the five to seven million it projected earlier. Acer chairman J.T. Wang expects current quarter notebook shipments to dip by ten percent from their Q1 levels, before stabilizing or slightly increasing during Q3. According to the new-look firm, these downward revisions are largely due to lagging economic growth in Europe, though its Asian and US markets "remain healthy." European inventories are expected to decrease to normal levels by the end of this month, which should allow the company's market share to rebound during the second half of this year. It's certainly not a dire outlook, but it's probably not the start new Corporate President Jim Wong was looking to get off to, either.
Acer's Jim Wong named Corporate President, will head new Touch Business Group
The changes just keep on coming at Acer these days -- following a shakeup at the top and a new, friendlier logo, the company has now announced that longtime company exec Jim Wong will be stepping up to the role of Corporate President. What's more, he'll also be heading up Acer's brand new Touch Business Group, which combines the company's former tablet PC and smartphone teams, and promises to help Acer "make significant inroads" in the mobile device business -- or so it hopes, at least. Elsewhere in the company, Acer's traditional PC Global Operations business will be led by the former VP of its handheld business unit, Campbell Kan, while a number of other Acer execs have also been appointed to some new positions, including Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Technology Officer. Head on past the break for the official word from Acer itself.
Acer launching world's first Android-based netbook in Q3
Acer's been straightforward with the fact that it's been dabbling with Android on netbooks. In fact, the entire industry seems to be. Now we've got word that Acer will in fact launch an Android-based netbook in the 3rd quarter of 2009. The move was announced by Acer's global president for IT products, Jim Wong. The Android netbooks will run Atom (sorry Tegra hopefuls) and presumably cost less than Windows XP-based netbooks that require an estimated $25 tithe to Microsoft. Acer will continue to offer Windows-based netbooks along side the Android builds. Whether Android, an OS designed for smartphones, will succeed in gaining back market share lost to Microsoft remains to be seen. But if Microsoft's boasting about consumers wanting netbooks offering the same OS experience they're used to is true, well, how can Android succeed where those early Linux distros failed?
