Netbook Leader Acer Further Reduces Shipments, iPad May Be To Blame
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Acer, maker of one of the top-sellers of PC netbooks continues to estimate a reduction in shipments of products in the third quarter of 2011. PadGadget covered an earlier story of Acer’s decision to reduce shipment by 60 percent in 2011 and Digitimes has just reported that the company estimates an additional 15 percent reduction in shipment of netbooks for the third quarter.
The company is expected to ship 1.45-1.5 million notebooks in July and 1.9-2 million units in August. From August through September, shipment is only estimated to drop slightly. Acer is cleaning house from an unexpected overstock in European inventories and hopes that things will pick up again after the third quarter.
Electronista has reported that Acer has relied mainly on netbook sales until a shift in management and the decision to reorganize around mobile devices. This change has been slow in coming and is part of the reason Acer is floundering in the post-iPad market. According to Electronista, Acer’s founder, Stan Shih blames the slow down on the companies attempt to adapt to the shift. Shih believes the company is headed in the right direction and time will prove the company’s success.
The reorganization will focus less on netbook sales and more on cloud-based computing in an effort to establish a niche in today’s mobile environment. Cnet reported today that Acer has just announced the preorder of its newest netbook, the AC700 Chromebook, which is set to ship in July and costs just $349.99. The AC700 utilizes Google’s cloud-based computing system, Chrome for its operating system.
