Acer Ups Ante in Tablet Market

The tablet PC market is finally starting to take shape. Samsung said earlier this week that the Galaxy Tab sold 600,000 units in its first month on shelves, not the runaway success that the iPad was between April and May 2010, but an impressive start nonetheless. Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM ) hasn’t officially laid out the specifics for the PlayBook’s launch in spring 2011, but CEO Jim Balsille did commit to an under-$500 pricepoint for the device this month, suggesting that the market is going to see significant price competition in the coming year. Now, another contender for Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL ) title in the tablet space has entered the ring and it’s one of the heavyweights. Acer Inc. announced not one but three tablet models at a press event yesterday. The world’s second largest PC vendor is doubling down its chances in the field by offering systems running on Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG ) Android mobile operating system as well as Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT ) Windows. Acer will offer two Android tablets in April 2011. The 10.1-inch model will be the company’s flagship in the tablet market, sporting a ten point multi-touch screen with a native 1280 X 800 screen resolution. Acer is emphasizing the tablet’s HD video abilities with both the screen and the tablet’s front-facing “HD” camera for high quality video calling. It also features HDMI output for simplified monitor and television connections. The tablet will also feature a 5-migapixel camera on the back. On the inside, Acer’s Android tablet will sport a dual-core 1GHz processor. Like the iPad, the unnamed tablet will feature a gyroscope for motion-based gaming and other apps. Acer also stressed the tablet’s support of Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE ) Flash 10.1.  A 7-inch  model has the same feature set as well as a 1.2GHz CPU made by Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM ). Coming a bit earlier than the Android tablets is Acer’s Microsoft Windows 7 tablet, due in Feburary 2011. The Windows tablet is a bit beefier than the Android models, 15mm thick and 2.2 pounds. It also features built in WiFi and 3G communication technology, though Acer did not specify which 3G standard the tablet would use or which carriers would support the device. Other details about the Windows tablet’s specifications are up in the air, with no word as to what its screen resolution or internal memory will be, though it will use an AMD (NYSE: AMD ) silicon processor rather than the Intel (NASDAQ: INTC ) and Qualcomm-made chips common to competing tablet models. Acer also says that the Windows tablet will sport front- and back-facing 1.3-megapixel cameras as well as a QWERTY keyboard-equipped dock for home use. Both the Android and Windows tablets will act as seeding devices for Acer’s new media-sharing platform Clear.fi. The Taiwan PC manufacturer is taking a page from Apple’s cross-platform software strategy with Clear.fi, emphasizing the software’s ability to let users share their music, video, image, and other media libraries smoothly across multiple operating systems and devices. Any device with WiFi communications can be accessed through the Clear.fi interface, allowing access to media libraries and letting users take advantage of integrated social networking tools. Videos can be uploaded to Google’s YouTube while images can be easily uploaded to Flickr or Facebook through Clear.fi’s tools. Acer has not, however, linked Clear.fi to digital media storefronts like Microsoft’s Zune, Apple’s iTunes or other distributors like Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN ). As of now, Clear.fi is going to be leveraged purely as a filing and sharing tool, which may limit may limit active support from partners like Google and Microsoft despite the implementation of those company’s operating systems on the new Acer tablets. Provided Acer can launch these devices in the United States at competitive price points, it could make a significant impact on the tablet market at the crucial point that competitors like Research in Motion are just entering the market. The tablets could end up being Acer’s first major success in the United States in over a decade. The company left the U.S. market in 1999, building its PC business in China and Europe, only re-entering the U.S. PC business in 2007 when the Taiwanese company acquired Gateway for $710 million. Investors should prepare themselves now to move on new tablet offerings at the beginning of fiscal 2011. As of this writing, Anthony Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
tdp2664
gol2664
InvestorPlace