Acer’s Everywhere. How Did That Happen?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/technology/companies/28acer.html?_r=1&ref=technology

by nreece • 17 years ago

27 15 17 years ago

jerryji• 17 years ago

So _how_ exactly did it happen?

It's such a typical distracted and convoluted main stream news that after reading the article my brain was like a messed up Rubik's Cube and I had to twist much just to summarize only two points:

* Aggressive investment in Netbook, which is supposed to be disruptive innovation. This is fine.

* Acer is free to choose low cost parts for its laptop -- this is considerably fluffier as if its competitors are doing (trying to do) the same.

Anyone else has a better idea?

old-gregg• 17 years ago

Easy. It's not just Acer, it is Asus and MSI and possibly many more to come. And its not because they're doing something exceptional. The business of PC building has changed to their advantage because of two (harshly worded) trends:

1. Computers, even laptops, become commoditized and don't require much of R&D to design and produce.

2. The majority of PC sales are consumers' who, unlike business customers, prefer cheap disposable junk, hence there isn't a single 24-bit true-color laptop available to buy these days: they're all gone. (which makes me wonder: what is the point of these high-tech digital SLRs?)

Don't bring the Apple argument: their success rests on value-add services/software that just happen to run well on in-house hardware.

P.S. Suddenly, IBM's decision to sell off PC business several years ago looks even more impressive.

boundlessdreamz• 17 years ago

IBM's decision to sell off the Thinkpad business was a good one. They must have learned it from the commidification of their other businesses like the Hard Disk business.

The margin of Acer is 2%. That is really really low. IBM margins in services must be in 20s.

anamax• 17 years ago

> isn't a single 24-bit true-color laptop available to buy these days: they're all gone. (which makes me wonder: what is the point of these high-tech digital SLRs?)

It's not just laptops - find a decent display for a desktop.

According to a Pixar presentation that I saw a couple of years ago, the disappearance of decent CRTs was a big concern for them.

Create• 17 years ago

The heading/article should rather be:

Intel’s Everywhere. How Did That Happen? (nytimes.com)

And it suddenly becomes obvious: you need a case for the chips, preferably with the least margin possible for .tw - Quoting Otellini is not an accident. Those who had the doublethought of going ARM/MIPS are suffering hard.

ieatpaste3• 17 years ago

Acer was already everywhere, just branded under another company's logo.

Acer, Asus, MSI, LG, Levono, HTC were OEMs for popular brands who decided to strike off on their own.

just_the_tip2• 17 years ago

You sure about LG and Lenovo?

ieatpaste3• 17 years ago

Lenovo were the OEMs for IBM's Thinkpads. LG still makes monitors for Dell, hard drives that are rebadged and I'm not sure of what else (they are a huge conglomerate)

paulgb2• 17 years ago

Sorry to be off-topic, but can any language-nerd explain why the apostrophe is appropriate here? Is it short for "Acer is everywhere"?

Elepsis• 17 years ago

One can only assume so, because that's the only way it is correct. Not sure why it isn't just written out to remove the awkwardness.

paulgb2• 17 years ago

I was so intrigued by this title that I went out to buy their style guide (I've been wanting to read it for a while), but I couldn't find it in-store. I'm really interested to see what they say about apostrophies, because they seem to use them pretty liberally (eg. CEO's even when not plural).

Acer’s Everywhere. How Did That Happen?

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