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Acer unveils first Android netbook

Visitors look at Acer laptops running on the Google Android operating system at Computex Taipei yesterday. PHOTO: WALLY SANTANA, AP

Acer Inc (§»ùÖ) yesterday unveiled the world¡¦s first netbook running on Google Inc¡¦s Android-based operating system. The low-cost device is expected to hit the shelves in the third quarter.

¡§The Android operating system offers incredibly fast wireless connection to the Internet,¡¨ Jim Wong (¯Î«Ø¤¯), Acer president of information technology global operations, told a press briefing.

Acer¡¦s announcement on the opening day of the Computex trade show in Taipei came as a surprise, as the world¡¦s third-largest PC vendor had said on Monday it would introduce an Android-powered smartphone in the fourth quarter.

The principal reason why the Android netbook will beat the Android smartphone to the market was that the small laptop is based on existing hardware such as Intel Corp¡¦s N270 Atom processor, the Aspire One chassis, 10.1-inch liquid-crystal-display screen and 160-gigabyte hard disk.

¡§The Android smartphone is taking longer because we are not building upon an existing smartphone ¡X we¡¦re starting from scratch,¡¨ Wong said.

The company¡¦s use of the Linux x86 system as the architecture to build the Android netbook also saved Acer extensive time as it did not have to develop its own software, Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC, ²£·~±¡³ø¬ã¨s©Ò) analyst Nicole Huang (¶À©É®S) said on Monday.

Acer did not disclose the retail price for the Android netbook. Depending on whether the netbook is released via a telecommunications carrier or through sales channels, the final price would be about NT$10,000 (US$310), Wong said.

During a product demonstration, Wong showcased the Android netbook¡¦s instant boot-up time of 18 seconds and less-than-a-second shutdown. However, the Android interface still looks very raw and is similar to that of a smartphone.

The company will provide dual environment on the Android netbook so users can switch between Android and Microsoft XP, Wong said.

¡§Rather than compete with Microsoft, we are offering another choice of mobile Internet-centric netbooks to our users, building on the open-source software¡¦s ability to embrace innovation,¡¨ Wong said.

While Acer was the first among major PC vendors to unveil its Android notebook at Computex, it might not be the first to launch the device commercially, as other brands such as Asustek Computer Inc (µØºÓ¹q¸£) and Micro-Star International Co (MSI, ·L¬P¬ì§Þ) are developing their own models.

Asustek chairman Jonney Shih (¬I±R´Å) showed five ultra-slim and energy-saving notebooks running on Intel¡¦s consumer ultra-low voltage processors yesterday.

Asked about the company¡¦s own Android netbook development, Shih said the matter was confidential.

¡§We cannot comment on the development of our Android-based netbooks,¡¨ Shih said.

He did not confirm nor deny the possibility of introducing an Android netbook sometime this week.

In April, local media reported that MSI would launch an Android netbook developed in cooperation with the government-funded Institute for Information Industry (¸êµ¦·|) during Computex.

But Sambora Chern (µ{´f¥¿), senior director of MSI¡¦s notebook sales department, told the Taipei Times by telephone yesterday that the company would not be exhibiting its model at Computex and that development was ongoing.
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