Must be a suitable offer said Gianfranco Lanci

Finally! Particularly quiet since the release of the iPad and first touch tablets, the Taiwanese manufacturer Acer has finally reveal its intentions on this growing market. Tuesday, in a loft in New York's Soho district, the Group had not less than... four models of shelves. Three integrate Android, an operating system developed by Google and will offer 5, 7 and 10-inch sizes. They will be marketed next April. The latest model (also 10-inch) it will run under Windows 7, the operating system of Microsoft, and will be marketed as early as the month of December in Italy and the United Kingdom and then in February at the global level. All models will be available with 3 G and Wi - Fi connections and embarqueront USB port and a camera, in contrast to the iPad.

As to prices, Gianfranco Lanci, President and CEO of the second global PC manufacturer, would not uncover, while stating that they expected "between $ 199-499" off grant. A positioning that could be fairly aggressive, given that the iPad is marketed from 499 dollars.

On a still poor segment in terms of supply, Acer therefore intends to differentiate by a range of at the outset very provided. The Taiwanese manufacturer also gives the impression of wanting to test the market: not only it gives a chance to both operating systems, but its models take different processors: in the model equipped with a 7 inch screen, it will be American Qualcomm chip, while the 10-inch Android will be equipped with the Tegra platform, NVIDIA, and that those under Windows 7 turn with an AMD processor. The war of tablets indeed with the chain of the electronics industry.

The tortoise and the Hare

But it is mainly in terms of content that Acer has created the surprise. While shelves can take advantage of multiple features (Internet, video, music, reading, games...), the Group has announced the launch of his own entertainment shop. Named Alive, it will be available in the first quarter of 2011 and will draw largely on iTunes, the virtual store of Apple. "The question of content is paramount." Users want to have a choice, they have different needs according to the terminal from which they consult their media. "Must be a suitable offer," said Gianfranco Lanci. To power its offering, the Group has established partnerships with various specialists (Acetrax, Audiogo, Apogeo, Kowalski...) and promising 2,000 videos, 8 million music titles and thousands of games, e-books and dedicated applications. All content which will also be accessible from all terminals of the Group: not only the tablets, but also the PC, "smartphones" and screens. "The contents are redefining our industry." "We want to be leader on this market," launches Gianfranco Lanci. In the end, the ambitions of the Builder are strong. "We believe that the market shelves should lie between 4 million and 5 million units next year." "On this basis, we must try to capture a market share of between 10 and 20," said Gianfranco Lanci. The Group relies on its ability to quickly fill the delay when it arrives in a market that started without him, as he demonstrated in the past, including in is taking the "netbook" market, but cleared by compatriot Asus.

On the shelves, it will happen a year after the release of the iPad... "We prefer to come up with a product completely finished rather than be present at any price", explains Pieter Ickx, Director for southern Europe of the group. In fact, the Group did not intend to incorporate the current versions of Android on its shelves, because they were originally designed for "smartphones". He prefers to wait for the exit, next February, a version of Android designed specifically for the Tablet market, named Honeycomb. History will tell whether the turtle will be stronger than the Hare.