Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday said there was a likelihood it would launch a new smartphone powered by Intel Corp’s Atom chip by the end of this year, in a sign of renewed cooperation.
The remarks came after the world’s No. 4 PC brand suddenly scrubbed a secretly arranged press conference last month to unveil the “Intel inside” mobile phone with local telecoms operator Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), a reliable source said. Acer did not confirm.
It would make Acer the third company in the world after China’s top brand Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc to offer smartphones outfitted with Intel chips as the companies, which made their name in the PC world, share the same ambition of expanding into smartphones to offset the stabilizing growth of the PC market.
“I think there is the chance [of seeing that happen],” Peter Shieh (謝金全), a vice president of Acer’s corporate account business division, told reporters when asked if the company planned to launch a new smartphone running Intel chips by the end of this year.
Shieh declined to provide more details.
Smartphones running Microsoft Corp’s new Windows 8 operating system are already in the pipeline for sale sometime next year, Shieh said.
This year, all six models launched by Acer run the Android system, supported by Google Inc, Shieh said.
Next year, Acer plans to introduce about six new phones and aims to double unit sales to 200,000 in the home market, from 100,000 units this year, Shieh said.
That would be a small portion of Acer’s bigger plan to sell 2 million cellular phones around the globe — as it forecast earlier this year.
“The trend is very clear, that the smartphone is becoming a major device for people to process data on the go,” Shieh said.
Global smartphone shipments are expected to expand to 567 million units this year and reach more than 1 billion in 2016, compared with less than 500 million units last year, according to market researcher NPD DisplaySearch’s tallies released last month.
Acer yesterday launched three new smartphones, including one upscale model code-named CloudMobile S500 that features a personal cloud service for users to temporarily save and share their pictures and data via a remote server.
The CloudMobile S500 went on sale in Europe last month in collaboration with telecoms operator Orange, as well in Australia, Thailand and some other Southeast Asian countries, Acer said.
The firm is also in talks with Chinese telecoms operators to sell the phone in China as well, Shieh said.
Shieh also said the company was diversifying its phone suppliers for various reasons, including supply chain issues, cost efficiency and developing better products for local users.
Acer has added a new Chinese handset company to its existing partners, Taiwan’s Qisda Corp (佳世達) and Compal Communications Inc (華寶), Shieh said.
TAKING STOCK: A Taiwanese cookware firm in Vietnam urged customers to assess inventory or place orders early so shipments can reach the US while tariffs are paused Taiwanese businesses in Vietnam are exploring alternatives after the White House imposed a 46 percent import duty on Vietnamese goods, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on the US’ trading partners. Lo Shih-liang (羅世良), chairman of Brico Industry Co (裕茂工業), a Taiwanese company that manufactures cast iron cookware and stove components in Vietnam, said that more than 40 percent of his business was tied to the US market, describing the constant US policy shifts as an emotional roller coaster. “I work during the day and stay up all night watching the news. I’ve been following US news until 3am
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
Six years ago, LVMH’s billionaire CEO Bernard Arnault and US President Donald Trump cut the blue ribbon on a factory in rural Texas that would make designer handbags for Louis Vuitton, one of the world’s best-known luxury brands. However, since the high-profile opening, the factory has faced a host of problems limiting production, 11 former Louis Vuitton employees said. The site has consistently ranked among the worst-performing for Louis Vuitton globally, “significantly” underperforming other facilities, said three former Louis Vuitton workers and a senior industry source, who cited internal rankings shared with staff. The plant’s problems — which have not
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
RSS