Acer Challenges IPad With Three Tablet Computers

(Updates with tablet dimensions in second paragraph.)

Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Acer Inc., the Taiwanese laptop maker, debuted its first tablet computers today, becoming the latest company to challenge Apple Inc. and its market-leading iPad.

Two of the tablets will have 7-inch and 10.1-inch screens and be based on Google Inc.’s Android software platform, Taipei- based Acer said at a press conference in New York. The third tablet, also with a 10.1-inch screen, will be based on Microsoft Corp.’s Windows software.

Acer, which also makes mobile phones, is trying to grab a piece of the market for tablets that bridge the gap between laptops and smartphones like Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry and Apple’s iPhone. Apple demonstrated the appeal of such devices by selling 3 million iPads in the first 80 days after the product debuted in April.

“This is a market that’s still not fully known, not fully satisfied,” said Jim Wong, Acer’s head of information- technology products, at the event. The company expects 40 million to 50 million tablets will be sold worldwide next year, and Acer aims to take about 10 percent of the market, he said.

Acer joins a field dominated by Apple, which had a 95 percent share of the tablet market last quarter, according to Strategy Analytics. Samsung Electronics Co. recently released its Galaxy Tab and RIM plans to release its 7-inch BlackBerry PlayBook next quarter.

“It’s a wide-open market and an opportunity for Acer to make itself better known to a North American market,” said Roger Entner, head of telecom research at Nielsen Co.

Hedging Bets

Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci may be trying to hedge his bets by releasing devices in different sizes. Apple CEO Steve Jobs said last month that devices like the PlayBook are “dead on arrival“ because they are too small to compete with the iPad, which has a 9.7-inch screen.

Acer fell 0.9 percent to NT$89.8 today on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The stock has dropped 6.6 percent this year.

The two Android tablets will be available in April and the Microsoft device will go on sale in February. All three will offer Wi-Fi connectivity and allow users to surf the Internet using a 3G connection. Wong said the tablets would likely be in the previously stated range of $299 to $699.

Acer also today released a smartphone with a 4.8-inch screen based on Android that they touted as a phone with the “soul of a tablet.”

--Editors: Peter Elstrom, Nick Turner

To contact the reporters on this story: Hugo Miller in Toronto at hugomiller@bloomberg.net; Katie Hoffmann in New York at khoffmann4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net

Source: Hugo Miller and Katie Hoffmann - businessweek.com

Link: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-11-23/acer-challenges-ipad-with-three-tablet-computers.html