Acer Inc (宏碁), the world’s No. 2 PC manufacturer, unveiled a range of tablet computers to help it compete with Apple Inc’s iPad, wading into the fast--growing market.
The tablet computer market is becoming crowded as more companies produce the new devices, which fall between traditional PCs and smartphones.
Chief executive Gianfranco Lanci announced at a news -conference in New York on Tuesday that the tablets would have 5, 7 and 10-inch screens, running on Google’s Android software. A second 10-inch tablet will run on Microsoft’s Windows.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The company said the Wi-Fi-only models of the tablets would come out in April next year, while the third-generation (3G)-capable models would arrive about a month later. The 5-inch tablet doubles as a smartphone.
Separately on Tuesday, Acer’s rival Dell Inc announced a new tablet that runs on Microsoft’s Windows software.
Acer, based in Taiwan, said it was in talks with US telephone carriers for 3G connectivity for its tablets.
No prices had been set for the devices, the company said.
“It’s a gold rush right now,” said NPD analyst Ross Rubin. “Everyone wants to get a tablet product out there.”
Apple’s iPad, a touchscreen tablet that began selling in April, still has an overwhelming lead in the fledgling market. It controlled 95 percent of the tablet market in the July-to-September quarter, -according to research firm Strategy Analytics.
“PC vendors and hardware vendors are looking at this market and saying: ‘How will I compete with Apple?’” Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi said.
Tablet sales are expected to grow to 54 million units next year and to more than 100 million units in 2012, according to a forecast by research firm Gartner.
Acer also unveiled a screen laptop with two 14-inch LCD touch screens called the Iconia, along with a media store and software called Clear.fi that lets customers stream content on different Acer devices.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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