Acer shakes hands with Android

Acer could have an Android-based netbook ready as early as the third quarter of this year, according to statements from the company's Global President for IT Products, Jim Wong.

At a conference at the Computex trade show in Taipei, Taiwan, Wong expressed confidence in Android and its "incredibly fast wireless connection to the Internet," saying that since the OS has become more common, it has a growing network of developers supporting it.

However, it's still a new kid in town, and Acer isn't about to forgo Windows. "When we are doing this new Android netbook, we are not going to make the [Windows-based] one go away. Both systems will still remain available to customers, and one will not go away because of the other," Wong told Reuters.

Android's immaturity is the reason why Asustek's Jonathan Tsang said today that an Eee PC running Android is not a priority for the company, despite the fact that Qualcomm yesterday displayed a Snapdragon-based Eee PC running Android. Tsang said it was an Asus company decision to not show off the Android Eee PC, and that he could not comment on Qualcomm's display unit.

According to a recent DisplaySearch report, Acer is now the second best selling notebook maker in the world, and netbooks account for more than 30% of its sales.

However, Wong warned, "If we do not continue to change our mobile Internet devices, consumers may not choose them any more."