Netbook Market Leader Acer Not Planning to Compete With iPad

[MacRumors]

DigiTimes reports on comments from Scott Lin, president of the Taiwanese division of netbook market leader Acer revealing that the company has no plans to compete with Apple's iPad tablet device. Lin noted that while an iPad-like product would be relatively simple technologically for Acer, such a device does not fit into the company's business strategy. In addition, the iPad's iTunes Store/App Store integration offers a key differentiating feature that other hardware manufacturers can't match.

Lin pointed out that designing an iPad-like device would not pose any technical challenges for Acer, but said such a product does not fit into Acer's business model.

Apple is able to support the iPad through its iTunes ecosystem, while few other makers, including Acer, have comparable experience in operating an online store, Lin noted.

Lin also pointed to the closed nature of Apple's iPhone/iPad ecosystem, which makes it difficult for other companies to replicate. Lin believes, however, there is likely to be little overlap between the iPad and traditional notebook and netbook markets, suggesting that Acer does not view the iPad as a significant threat to its business.

During the iPad's introduction, Apple CEO Steve Jobs built the case that a product targeting the space between smartphones and notebooks needs to do some things better than either of those types of devices, pointing to browsing, email, photos, video, music, games, and eBooks as examples of tasks at which such a device might want to excel. In addressing the current popularity of netbooks, Jobs claimed that netbooks "aren't better at anything" and are just cheap notebooks, opening the door for the iPad to define the new product category.

Article Link: Netbook Market Leader Acer Not Planning to Compete With iPad

 

[elppa]

A Google like product would be relatively simple technologically for elppa, but the closed nature of Google's search/ad-words ecosystem, makes it difficult for elppa to replicate.

The easy/hard bit is really annoying me. They are only thinking about the hardware, not the software and services. They just expect the software and services to be given to them.

SONY is after years and years, is now taking software VERY seriously. I'd suggest Acer would be wise to follow suit.

 

[flottenheimer]

So Acer will not compete because it can't. Basically.

 

[talkingfuture]

This is an important part of apple's strategy. By making iTunes an integral part of the experience it will be harder and harder for rivals to replicate their products/successes.

 

[salvatorereda]

Missing key features

It needs a camera! Most netbooks have a video camera for skype etc...
Also without flash I am not sure people will buy into the idea of a video player as well. Hulu! How do we watch netflix will we be able to use silverlight?

 

[tuhoops]

I think he's right about not being able to replicate Apple's closed ecosystem of iTunes and the App Store. That's what will allow the iPad to sell and differentiate itself from netbooks and the like. The key here is that no one knows what to make of the iPad. That is why you see so many negative comments about it. People don't really know what it is yet. It'll evolve over time, but the more I think about it, the iPad will not only succeed, but it will be the defining product of its category just as the iPod and iPhone are to their respective categories.

 

[iOrlando]

1) a ceo would never say the iPad poses a grave threat to them. so take what he has to say with a grain of salt.
2) a ceo would never indicate their company plans to the public, so take what he has to say with a grain of salt.

in reality, they're most likely very scared that MSFT is no where near capable of supplying a tablet OS with a touch interface comparable to apple.

 

[danvdr]

If iPad iWorks actually plays nice with Office it could put make inroads into the netbook market as it would make a great traveling laptop.

 

[bigandy]

Acer does not view the iPad as a significant threat to its business.

Famous last words

 

[Digitalclips]

In addition, the iPad's iTunes Store/App Store integration offers a key differentiating feature that other hardware manufacturers can't match.Lin also pointed to the closed nature of Apple's iPhone/iPad ecosystem, which makes it difficult for other companies to replicate.

I give the guy credit for being realistic. Perhaps M$ should hire hims the new CEO. Certain other people in the PC world seem to assume if they copy an Apple product they can't fail.

 

[Goona]

iPad is superior to netbooks. Netbooks are garbage. I just bought my girl one of the MSI Wind netbooks with Windows XP and the screen is small and the keyboard tiny and its slow as hell. My only gripes with the ipad is the multitasking which on a screen this large is unforgiveable and it is powerful enough to run it. I have a feeling multitasking is coming in 4.0. Other gripe is with flash which a lot of websites I use have it especially for video. Apple needs to add it. I can forgive it on on my iphone but not on a device this powerful. Other things like camera will probably be added on later.

 

[spice weasel]

If iPad iWorks actually plays nice with Office it could put make inroads into the netbook market as it would make a great traveling laptop.

Assuming it has the same functionality that the full desktop version has, then it will work very nicely with Office. I actually prefer to use Pages and then just export as a rtf or a Word doc when I need to send a file to colleagues.

Without the iWork apps, the iPad really is just a big iPod touch. But with them, the iPad becomes the perfect laptop replacement for people who have to lug around a laptop just for email, web, and word processing or spreadsheet use.

 

[batchtaster]

2) a ceo would never indicate their company plans to the public, so take what he has to say with a grain of salt.

While this may be true of Apple, it's not true of many generic PC makers. We have already been briefed, for example, what Lenovo is planning to do for us in the next 3-6 months (lots of stop-gap models, grr). Acer used to do the same. Apple's secrecy is second-to-none, and is not a reflection of the rest of the industry.

On the matter of netbooks, one of the key points Jobs made is that they're not better at anything - this is because they are still just Windows boxes, no matter how small they are. They don't have an OS optimized for the form factor (writing on it does not a tablet make), nor does it have applications optimized for it, such as iPad does with its Calendar (for example) which is unlike the calendar in either Mac OS X or iPhone OS. Microsoft has nothing to offer them that is distinct from garden-variety Windows, nor do they presently seem to have the momentum to be able to respond rapidly to the new mode of thinking set by Apple. They haven't even gotten their Windows Mobile OS out yet, and I doubt they have the foresight to build in differentiation into their OS as Apple did to the iPhone OS to create the iPad system. You've got a netbook? Then you don't have anything more remarkable than on any other PC of any other form-factor; desktop, notebook or otherwise. iTunes, the App Store and iBooks will be a distinguishing factor. But what will drive this thing is the applications that developers build that are different than you find in either Mac OS X or iPhone OS.

 

[Digitalclips]

I think he's right about not being able to replicate Apple's closed ecosystem of iTunes and the App Store. That's what will allow the iPad to sell and differentiate itself from netbooks and the like. The key here is that no one knows what to make of the iPad. That is why you see so many negative comments about it. People don't really know what it is yet. It'll evolve over time, but the more I think about it, the iPad will not only succeed, but it will be the defining product of its category just as the iPod and iPhone are to their respective categories.

I have a feeling over time the new Tablet OS will develop into something bigger too. I can imagine a really large screen set that is positioned at a slight angle at hand level so that it can load virtual keyboards like a piano and synth and a whole host of virtual emulations. I can also imagine using it for my Final Cut Pro editing as the contextual pop up menus and using two hands to edit would be amazing. Obviously a lot more horse power would be behind this, maybe a future MacPro would run such a screen... maybe with an option to standard OS X or this new version so that legacy software can be run and the mouse brought out of the cupboard and the screen set upright again (maybe on a swivel). ... just dreaming here

 

[akjs2396]

It needs a camera! Most netbooks have a video camera for skype etc...
Also without flash I am not sure people will buy into the idea of a video player as well. Hulu! How do we watch netflix will we be able to use silverlight?

Not this issue again! No talking about Flash, cameras or multitasking here, it's old and boring!

Acer don't think the iPad is a threat to their Market sector cos they don't have anything in the iPad's sector. What they will find is their sector reducing as a result of the product.

 

[notjustjay]

As much as people like to criticize the "closed" ecosystem of the App Store, it is precisely because Apple has this level of integration that the iPhone, iPod touch, and (presumably) the iPad are doing as well as they are.

Other companies have app stores but not with the selection and wow factor ("wow, there's an app for that?") As Acer points out, this is going to be a key differentiator. (Of course this will change as time goes on and other companies like Google, Microsoft, etc. build up their own app stores).

Put another way -- what if Apple had released this device a few years ago, before the iPhone and the app store? There were certainly tablet PCs in the market at the time, but for the most part we'd all be staring and saying, "... but what would we DO with this?"

As I said in another thread, I originally had an iPod touch, before the firmware 2.0 and the introduction of the app store. I was initially wowed by the touch screen but after a short while, I asked myself, "...what will I really do with this that I couldn't already do with my existing iPod?" Having no good answer, I sold the iPod touch. Today, the answer would be different now that there are so many apps to choose from.

 

[adamw]

Here we begin with something similar to how the phrase "more blood on the wheel" was commonly used to refer to iPod and iTunes taking out music players and services whose companies boasted again Apple and failed.

We need a new phrase for all the products and services that fail against the iPad, iTunes, and the iBookstore.

Amazon already has backed down on forcing publishers to accept a fixed $9.99 price for e-books. Now Acer is not entering the e-reader or tablet market because on the iPad.

 

[djscooterb]

Great device, but not Better

I hate Flash myself, but I really think that there is something to be said about their claims of a "complete internet experience" without it. Wasn't there a lawsuit in Europe about their "the whole internet" tag line for the iPhone? Sadly, Flash is used a lot for stupid things like slideshows, menus, etc. where there is no need to use Flash. But without it an iPhone/iPad user is restricted to a portion of the web. Is it it lot? No. Does Apple being so vocal about this help the move to more open based standards? Yes. But, in the meantime users have a sub-par experience.

And I don't think the lack of Flash is a conspiracy to buy TV on iTunes rather than watch it on Hulu. That theory really shows how "religious" some people can be. I think Apple really feels it is a compromise to the stability of the platform. I really wish that Adobe would deliver a better version of Flash to Apple and prove that it is solid enough for inclusion. Maybe something like ClickToFlash would be a good compromise, except my guess is that once you get Flash started on any page, the genie is out of the bottle.

Leaving out the camera was a real bummer, and hence I will be waiting even longer for this. Would a video camera run down the battery? You bet, but how can you not market sitting in bed and doing a video iChat with someone? That was such a missed opportunity.

And leaving out a SD card slot. So we have to buy the upgraded version with more memory? I hate to subscribe to that conspiracy theory, but really? No SD card slot? The same slot that are adding to all the notebooks and iMacs? Really?

My last gripe is this. I really cannot get one for my folks or any other one because it isn't really 100% standalone. You do need iTunes to back it up, etc. You can by apps and content, but without a computer with iTunes, that is your only copy. That is a serious barrier for making that your Mom's one and only computer to do email, web surfing, etc. It really needs another computer to sync to every once in a while ... until they let you back it up to some sort of cloud service like MobileMe.

Sadly, the lack of Flash, lack of a camera, lack of SD card slot and the need to be tethered to a "real computer" every once in a while doesn't make it better than a Netbook. Those are things that are important to many users that a netbook still does better.

 

[Eidorian]

I understand the value of the content stores but I can't remember the last time I paid for content.

 

[allpar]

Gotta love it. "We COULD do that easily, child's play! We just don't WANT to." Uh-huh. Are we taking that on face value now?

 

[*LTD*]

So Acer revelaed it has no plans to compete because it can't. Is this even news? Was Acer ever expected to reveal a tablet-like device? What was the point of this announcement? Was it a back-handed way of saying they don't plan to compete because they don't view the iPad as a threat anyway? If it's this last possibility then it's a sad, sad comment by Acer.

But what else did you expect from one of the biggest junk-box makers on the planet? No innovation, just a subtly dismissive comment. Shocking.

Acer builds junk. It's as if they get their ideas for body design from a landfill and then festoon their notebooks with blue lights as a distraction.

What were they going to do? Add another generic touchscreen tablet running some full version of Windows to the pile?

Yup. THAT has been working out great.

Jeez . . .

 

[Colrath]

Tired of hearing about, "Lack of Flash."

Apple is just forcing the market to change, for the better. Less dependency on third party software and standardization. This isn't the first time they've done this. Sometimes they've tried, sometimes they've failed. But their successes have always changed the market for the better.

HTML5 is starting to talk form.

 

[Jimmy James]

Wait...wait...wait...

A windows OS can't compete because of the [lack of] apps? The multitude of available "programs" are one of the biggest reasons to go Windows in the first place.

I have a Windows PC and Mac at home. Guess which one has more "apps" on it...

 

[*LTD*]

I understand the value of the content stores but I can't remember the last time I paid for content.

So how do you get your content?

 

[hawon]

It is very true that Apple does great job integrating the device and software that runs on it. Netbooks can be slow because it uses Windows XP or Windows 7 but still have capability to do the most works that any computer can offer.

iPad is in too early stage to be judged right now but as of now it seems in totally different market than Netbooks. It does not have multi-tasking, it only has three or four iPad specific apps, does not have physical keyboards, and many others. It can be casual device that you can easily carry around and use it to casual web browsing and emails. However, can't you do this with iPhone?

iPad will be a big success in the market that its in it, simply due to the fact that it is not considered as netbook nor ebook reader. It will be impossible to become a failure in the market of its own.