An executive at local PC vendor Acer Inc (宏碁) said in Brazil on Wednesday that the company will launch two tablet computer models in the Latin American country in the second half of this year, in light of growing demand.
The company will introduce a 10-inch and a seven-inch tablet computer that will run on Google Inc’s Android 3.1 operating system, said Emmanuel Fromont, Acer’s corporate vice president and president of Pan-American operations.
Initially, Acer will import the two models into the Brazil market, but has not ruled out the possibility of assembling them there in the future, Fromont said.
He said the Brazilian government is offering incentives for investments in the tablet computer sector, which could cut Acer’s production costs by at least 30 percent.
Mark Hill, general manager of Acer’s operations in Brazil, said the two tablet models will be priced higher in Brazil than in the US because of shipping and distribution costs, but the Acer brand could nonetheless remain competitive in Brazil.
According to Gartner, an IT research and advisory firm, Acer was the largest notebook computer supplier in Brazil last year. In addition to its own brand, Acer also sells products under the Gateway Inc and Packard Bell brands — two of its subsidiaries.
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