j.t. wang

Acer: Ultrabooks will spark 'stalled' Windows platform

Ultrabooks will become mainstream in the coming years, spurring the sputtering Windows platform, according to a Taipei-based report.

Speaking at a conference in Taipei, Acer Chairman J.T. Wang said specifications that define the emerging category of ultrabooks will become the "mainstream model for tablet PCs and notebooks in the next five years," according to a report from Taipei Times.

Wang added that the release of ultrabooks will stimulate a "stalled" Wintel (Windows-Intel) "framework."

He also said that the line between laptops and tablets will become less distinct. That comment matches up with the … Read more

Acer hit by first ever loss, sees tablet fever slowing

Acer reported its first-ever quarterly loss yesterday, which it blamed on various expenses and excess inventory, though chairman J.T. Wang stressed that he sees a slowdown to the current wave of tablet fever.

For the quarter ended June, the Taiwanese PC maker suffered a net loss of 6.79 billion in Taiwanese dollars ($234.3 million). That loss compared with a net profit of NT$2.65 billion in last year's second quarter and was considerably larger than the NT$3.3 billion loss expected by several analysts polled by Reuters.

Sales fell by 32 percent from a … Read more

Acer chides Microsoft over tablet maker restrictions

Microsoft is placing "troublesome" restrictions on hardware makers working on Windows 8 tablets, according to both Acer's president and its CEO.

Speaking yesterday at the Computex trade show in Taiwan, Acer President Jim Wong said Microsoft had chosen five chip manufacturers--Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments--to provide processors for the next generation of Windows tablets, according to The Wall Street Journal. Taking it a step further, Microsoft then decided to limit each chipmaker to supplying chips to no more than two hardware makers, a move that Wong sees as restrictive.

"The industry does … Read more

Acer aims to overtake HP in notebook sales

Acer recently outpaced Dell as the second largest PC seller in the world. Is No. 1 Hewlett-Packard next on the list?

Acer Chairman J.T. Wang reportedly intends to ship 40 million notebooks in 2010, a number that could help the Taiwanese company challenge and even overtake current champ Hewlett-Packard for the top spot in portable PC sales.

To achieve this goal, Acer is looking to kick up revenue by more than 70 percent over the next three years, said Wang in an interview with Reuters.

Much of that revenue growth is likely to come from an anticipated 50 percent gain in sales for low-cost Netbook PCs. As the economy improves, Wang expects to sell an ever greater number of low-priced, portable PCs, a segment that has been very kind to the company.

As chairman since 2008, Wang has led Acer as its sales and market share have shot up over the past year. And with revenue expected to hit $18 billion this year, he's already targeting the next milestone.… Read more