An Acer eReader and a separate App Store will be arriving in mind 2010 to take on the Kindle. Bloomberg and BusinessWeek report on an Acer eReader although they skirt over Kindle vs Acer possibilities.
Kindle Vs Acer – The Acer eReader
Here are the details on the Acer eReader -
- Arrives end of June 2010.
- The Acer eReader will have a 6″ monochrome screen.
- To begin with it’ll be available in 5 European countries.
- Acer say they want to take on the Kindle, the Nook and the Sony Reader.
- Already in talks with content owners.
- Europe and Asia centric approach.
Acer have some interesting things to say -
“Amazon, Barnes & Noble; they are U.S.-centric. In Western Europe and Asia-Pacific we have publishers to work with, and most of them are content owners,” Wong said.
Acer is talking to magazine, newspaper and book publishers to provide content for its device, he said without naming them.
Acer think mid 2010 is the perfect time to enter the eReader Market
Rumors of Acer’s entry into eReaders started in 2009 including this interesting Bloomberg article with some insights -
Acer Inc., the world’s third-largest maker of personal computers, will expand into televisions and electronic books within five years as the PC industry slows, founder Stan Shih said.
E-books will be a “big opportunity for PC companies,” Shih said.
There was a very strong current of Acer waiting for the perfect moment to enter the eReader market. Their chairman talks about timing -
Acer is waiting until the market develops before it releases an electronic book.
Shih said the market isn’t mature.
“We should participate before the industry settles down,” Shih said. “If settled down, there’s no room for us. So, we have to find the right timing, not too early, not too late.”
It’s obvious that Acer think mid 2010 will be the perfect time
Kindle Vs Acer – Assessing Acer’s threat to the Kindle
There are a lot of reasons to be vary of Acer -
- Acer is the second biggest computer seller in the world – second only to HP.
- It has a history of making smart acquisitions and moving quickly - it started in laptops by buying Texas Instruments’ mobile PC division in 1997, it bought Gateway computers in 2007, and acquired a controlling interest in Packard Bell in 2008.
- Acer entered netbooks after Asus had invented and popularized the niche and managed to steal away the #1 spot.
- Acer also reimagined laptop battery life with its Timeline series and it will definitely have surprises in terms of eReader battery life.
Acer is going to go after the eReader market primarily on price - they already have a very strong brand and lots of partnerships including Android.
Closing Thought on Kindle Vs Acer – Lessons from the Netbook Wars
Amazon ought to take a very close look at what Acer did in the Netbook market.
- Asus not only created the market with their Eee PC, they also had the early lead.
- Acer came in on price and quality and simplicity of offerings i.e. just one model as opposed to Asus’ dozens of different models.
- Asus didn’t respond and before they knew it they had lost their #1 spot.
Acer just has a lot of weapons to bring to the table. They’ll probably also acquire an eReader company or buy the eReader unit of a company to ramp up their share.
Kindle Vs Acer is not going to be easy - Acer is an extremely dangerous company and it’s not going to make the rookie mistakes Sony and B&N have been making.
Filed under: eBook Reader Devices Tagged: | acer ereader, kindle vs acer
