Acer Inc (宏碁), the world’s third-largest PC maker, said yesterday it aimed to ship 20 million handsets in 2012 and become one of the world’s top five smartphone providers.
The PC maker launched its first smartphone in April, 12 months after merging a local handheld device maker — E-Ten Information System Co (倚天) — as part of its diversification into the smartphone market, which offers faster growth and better margins.
“We want to be the world’s top 5 smartphone makers in the next three to four years,” Aymar de Lencquesaing, president of Acer’s Smart Handheld Business Group, told a media briefing in Taipei.
To reach this goal, Acer would have to grab about 6 percent or 7 percent of the market, Lencquesaing said.
By 2012, Acer hopes to sell 20 million smartphones, he said.
Smartphone shipments are expected to grow more than 22 percent next year after increasing by a mild 3.4 percent this year because of the global recession, market researcher IDC said.
In comparison, shipments of conventional phones are expected to rise 7.5 percent next year after contracting 10 percent this year, IDC said.
Acer is in talks with global telecom operator to sell its smartphones at an affordable price of between US$40 and US$50 per unit by bundling them with their services and subsidies, Acer vice president Roger Yuan (袁祖興) said.
The price could lure feature phone users to switch to smartphones, he said.
“Singapore will be the first market for Acer to sell its smartphones through local telecom operators. We see that happening this or next month,” Yuan said.
The company plans to launch 10 models this year, including one running Google’s Android system.
Acer said it hoped to sell half a million phones this year.
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