Acer, already the second largest computer maker in the world, has ambitious plans for the future. According to Bloomberg, Acer is tossing its hat into the already over-saturated yet underdeveloped market of eReaders, facing off with the likes of Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony, and others. No specifics have been announced other than it will have a 6-inch, monochrome (assume E-Ink) screen and ship in Europe.
More surprisingly, Acer is announcing an online apps store. Jim Wong, president of the Acer IT product division, has stated it would contain hundreds of applications, "otherwise you can't call it an app store." It will likely be a cross-platform marketplace for Android, Windows Mobile, and ChromeOS.
However, Acer's most stunning announcement is the fact it has announced plans to rush forward with a ChromeOS netbook to provide a "a change to the Microsoft-Intel environment," according to Wong. The mention of Intel hints that this new product line might be ARM powered as an alternative to the standard Atom on-board most mainstream netbooks. Acer plans to release the netbook sometime around Q3 2010, on schedule with Google's release date for ChromeOS.
Via Bloomberg, image via Wikipedia.
Posts
