On November 23rd, Taiwanese manufacturer Acer announced the impending launch of its tablet line. While details are sparse, they can and have been cobbled together, but what’s more shocking is the statement made by Gianfranco Lanci, Acer’s CEO. Despite Apple Inc.’s ownership of 95.5% of the tablet market, Lanci expects to grab 10% to 20% of it and to sell 40 million to 50 million Acer tablets worldwide.
If Apple had targeted the world with the iPad, perhaps they would have sold more than three million units in the first 80 days.
I agree that the iPad’s reach is limited and believe that Acer, known for producing affordable computers, could take a huge segment of the tablet market. That is, until the iPad’s next version – which needs to have more memory and a tangible means of file transfer. As it is, and what everybody seems to talk about, the iPad is simply an overachieving magazine.
OK, so what do these Acer tablets have to offer. First, expect to see three models or options. There will be one 7-inch tablet and one 10.1-inch tablet that will use Google’s Android 2.2 operating system. Rounding out the trifecta is another 10.1-inch Acer tablet that will run Microsoft’s Windows 7 software.
On the hardware front the 7-inch Acer tablet and the 10.1-inch model seem to be pretty much identical, except for the screen size. Both models will feature 1080p HDMI output, have a native 1208 x 800 screen resolution, a 5-megapixel camera in the rear and an HD front-facing camera so you don’t have to miss a family moment while away on business (i.e., that’s video calling), and multitouch support. Both models should also feature an onboard gyroscope for your gaming pleasure, which will also include 3-D games. The 10.1-inch Acer tablet’s aluminum shell measures just 13.3 millimeters thick. All models will have Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity.
The biggest differences between the models appear to be the processors, where the 7-incher offers a dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm CPU and the same Flash 10.1 support and the 10.1-inch tablet offers the dual-core Bobcat CPU, with integrated Radeon HD 6250 graphics.
The Android versions of the Acer tablets will become available in April and the Windows version in February. Pricing is projected to land somewhere between $299 and $699.[source]
0 comments:
Post a Comment