Bangalore: Acer Inc, the world No 2 PC maker, will launch an ultrabook super-light computer model in the fourth quarter, its president said on Wednesday, and sees devices such as tablets and smartphones making up a third of revenue by 2015.
Acer, reorganising after the sudden departure of its CEO in March in a dispute over how to deal with the threat of tablet PCs to its core notebook business, has said it will push into mobile devices to power future growth.
President Jim Wong, who took the job last month, told a group of reporters on Wednesday that Acer aims to have the revenue contribution from touch products at 15 per cent by 2013, and one-third by 2015. Touch products include tablets and smartphones.
Ultrabooks, a new category of notebook launched by top chipmaker Intel Corp, will be lightweight but still pack high-performance processors. Intel sees them accounting for 40 per cent of laptop sales to consumers by the end of next year.
"The ultrabook can help to revive the notebook market," Wong said.
Netbook pioneer and Acer rival Asustek showed its first ultrabook, the UX series, on Monday at the Computex computer show in Taipei.
Acer has been a dominant force in the PC business, particularly in the low-cost notebook segment, but has failed to counter the runaway success of tablets such as Apple's hot-selling iPad.
In April it cut its second-quarter shipments forecast a 10 per cent fall over January-March. Wong said on Wednesday that the company would give full-year earnings guidance on June 10.
Wong also flagged an expansion into China, saying the company would double its R&D investment in China with building a new investment center in Chongqing and also another city, in addition to the old one in Shanghai. Acer aims for a 20 percent share of the PC market there next year from a lower-than-10 percent share in the first quarter.
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