Hands on with the Pre-Honeycomb Acer Iconia A501 Android tablet
On Tuesday, AT&T announced it would begin selling the 4G Acer Iconia Tab A501 in the second quarter of 2011. Naturally, it became one of the devices on my list to get some hands-on time with.
The tablet, however, wasn't out on the show floor of CTIA this week like it was last month at Mobile World Congress. That's because the devices on display there were running FroYo, and the model AT&T announced this week will be running Gingerbread.
Acer announces Android and Windows tablets for 2011
Personal computing giant Acer on Tuesday took the wraps off of three tablet computers it plans to launch in 2011, powered either by Windows 7 or Android.
Since earlier this year, Acer has been rumored to be working on at least two Android-powered tablets for the United States market, and the company today confirmed that it does have Android tablets in the pipleline for an April launch.
Almost #3 now: Dell's decline is Acer's gain
With the economic sinkhole of 2008-09 now a figment of many technology companies' past, most PC manufacturers are back on their regularly scheduled growth curve. Last month, Dell had indicated to investors that it was returning to that curve as well, reporting "product shipments...up at double-digit rates year-over-year" during its end-of-fiscal year 2010 earnings report.
According to iSuppli, which tracks worldwide PC unit shipments, that Dell claim -- which not a single analyst even questioned at the time, according to Seeking Alpha's transcript of Dell's February 18 earnings conference -- gives "plus or minus" a whole new meaning. The market analyst firm's statistics on full-year unit shipments, published today, show Dell's numbers declining by 9.946% during calendar year 2009. Dell's fiscal 2010 began in February 2009, so iSuppli's numbers cover most of that period plus January 2010 -- in a quarter where Dell actually recovered slightly.
Acer eclipses Dell for #2 spot in global PC shipments, says iSuppli data
At the rate at which Acer (which now also includes Gateway, Packard Bell, and e-Machines) was catching up with Dell, analysts predicted at this time last year that it could conceivably top Dell in units shipped worldwide by the third quarter of 2009. For once in this wacky economy, the analysts' predictions turned out to be correct: Acer is now the world's #2 PC producer in terms of units shipped, according to iSuppli.
But Acer is not catching up to Hewlett-Packard too fast, in any other regard besides placement on the list. HP's market share continues its strong rise, as the entire PC market enjoyed a nice recovery last month...and Dell shared in absolutely none of it.
Acer rings in year 2 of Android with a Snapdragon-based device
Acer today took the lid off of its first Android-based smartphone, the Liquid, formerly shown off as the "A1." In addition to being the top computer manufacturer's first Android smartphone, it's also the first Android phone based on the 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset.
It's not the first Snapdragon phone altogether -- that honor went to the Windows Mobile-based Toshiba TG01 earlier this year -- but the Liquid will become be the most powerful Android handset available. Sony Ericsson is rumored to also be working on a Snapdragon-based Android phone with a UI known as "Rachael," and HTC is reportedly working on the "Dragon," but neither company has officially debuted a product as Acer has today.
Report: 2010 Acer smartphone lineup will be 50% Android
According to a DigiTimes report today, newcomer to the smartphone market Acer will concentrate on releasing more Android devices. The source said it expects "at least half" of Acer's new smartphones to launch with the open source mobile operating system next year, even though the company actually showed off mostly Windows Mobile 6.1 devices earlier this year.
Acer first announced support for Android earlier this year, and President and CEO Gianfranco Lanci said it was being tested on several different hardware solutions. Acer's first Android device, the A1, is expected to come to market next month, but still has not been officially announced or specced.
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.
Acer increases netbook size with new Aspire One
Acer unveiled its second-generation netbook products today, which include the 11.6" Aspire One 751h, a unit that goes for the bigger overall footprint but with a marginally slimmer profile.
Besides its 11.6" LCD screen (1364 x 768, 16:9), the Acer Aspire One 751h is equipped with a 1.22 GHz Intel Atom Z520, 1 GB SDRAM, and a 160 GB 5400RPM SATA hard drive. Not a lot has changed since the last generation, It comes installed with Windows XP Home SP3, has a multi-card reader, and supports 802.11b/g wireless. The suggested baseline retail price is even the same as the last generation: $349.99, or $379.99 with a six-cell battery.
Acer CEO announces support for Android
Acer has been quite candid about its move into the smartphone sector, and is expected to launch around ten new handsets this year, many of which will be rebranded E-Ten designs from the mobile phone maker Acer acquired in late 2008.
The company launched eight phones at a conference in Singapore last week, almost all were powered by Windows Mobile, but Acer has expressed increasing interest in Android-powered handsets, causing speculation that the company would be coming forward with one in the near future.
Acer observes 'new market trends,' releases an all-in-one
At the end of 2008, according to iSuppli, notebooks finally took the crown for top-selling PC form factor, edging out desktops by a mere 100,000 units. Laptops may have finally taken the lead, with worldwide sales of 38.6 million units, against 38.5 million for desktops.
Of course, Current Analysis has noted times in 2003, 2004 and 2005 that laptops have outsold desktops, generally constituting a 3-7% market share advantage; but market share endgame was never declared. It's generally assumed that at some point desktops will officially be the minority, but no one has yet declared it.
Acer's US arm responds to Android phone reports
Acer's US arm isn't saying either 'yes' or 'no' right now about rumored plans to introduce an Android phone purportedly dubbed the 'A1.'
"At this time, no comment from Acer," echoed Alison Williams, a US-based Acer spokesperson, when asked by Betanews to either confirm or deny reports that Acer will roll out a phone based on Google's Android platform.
Acer ships updated Aspire One, with Windows but no Linux
About a week ahead of schedule, Acer has started US shipments of its second generation Aspire One netbook, a Windows XP-only device with a larger 10.1-inch screen.
Despite the bigger screen size of the new Aspire One AOD150, Acer's latest netbook doesn't offer an appreciably roomier keyboard, according to some who have tried out the new PC, which first shipped in the UK on January 23.
Acer smartphones coming in February
An invitation to Acer's press conference at GSMA in Barcelona on February 16 confirms that the third largest PC manufacturer will be entering the smartphone market.
Acer's Gianfranco Lanci talked about the company's plans for launching a Windows Mobile smartphone last year, after the company announced that it was acquiring Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer E-TEN.
Acer netbook for $99.99, but there's a catch
Radio Shack is now advertising a $99.99 Acer netbook on its Web site. Yet to get the Windows XP-enabled device at that price, you also need to sign up for a two-year 3G wireless contract from AT&T.
The only catch in the deal for the Acer Aspire One netbooks is that you need to agree to a two-year contract with AT&T's DataConnect service, at a price of $60 per month.
Gartner: Acer gains big worldwide, Apple gains in US
Research firm Gartner has released its third quarter 2008 results for the personal computer market, showing that in the US, Apple shipments exceeded Acer, the company with the biggest growth in worldwide market share.
Globally, the Acer brand, which now includes Gateway, Packard Bell, and eMachines,shipped 47.3% more hardware than last year's third quarter, growing its market share by nearly 3%, the largest improvement of the top-selling brands. Gartner research shows that Asus and Acer were the two vendors who have expanded their market share the most through the popularity of netbooks. Overall, PC shipments increased by 15%.
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