Acer Inc (宏碁) plans to unveil its first virtual reality (VR) product for consumers in the first half of this year, chief executive officer Jason Chen (陳俊聖) said yesterday.
“Acer has been conducting research and development [R&D] of VR technologies for a while... We are planning to introduce some new technologies to surprise everyone,” Chen told reporters.
While continuing with its R&D of VR technologies, the company is thinking about potential business models that it can develop in the field, Chen said.
Photo: CNA
The VR industry is new and requires a wide range of applications and the establishment of a supporting ecosystem, Chen said.
“We are thinking of how to expand Acer’s reach in the field and turn our VR technologies into a business. And that is an important element in the process of Acer’s corporate transformation,” he said.
Commenting on Acer’s core business, Chen said that the company’s notebook business in western Europe is “not bad” despite global economic uncertainties.
“Acer is doing quite well in matured west European markets, especially in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as the economies there are more stable than in other countries,” he said.
Notebook demand in countries heavily reliant on the export of natural resources — such as Brazil and Russia — was affected by the continued fall in global crude oil prices, Chen said.
He said that Acer has been careful in monitoring profitability in those markets, but the firm is not considering suspending shipments to avoid risks.
“Acer must maintain a certain degree of market presence in those markets,” Chen said.
Acer founder and former chairman Stan Shih (施振榮) said that the company is evaluating the possibility of spinning off its cloud-computing business into automobile electronics, smart medical devices and smart homes to accelerate the firm’s years-long corporate transformation.
Separating the cloud-computing business units from the parent company might give those new businesses more flexibility and resources, he said.
Acer will discuss the spin-off plan during its board meeting at the end of next mont, he said.
Acer’s sales fell 30.09 percent year-on-year and 29.74 percent month-on-month to NT$15.87 billion (US$474.85 million) last month, it said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
‘FINGERPRINTING’: The ‘private relay’ feature hides a user’s IP address by rerouting the Web connection through a third party, making it impossible to infer their identity Apple Inc on Monday said a new “private relay” feature designed to obscure a user’s Web browsing behavior from Internet service providers and advertisers would not be available in China for regulatory reasons. The feature was one of a number of privacy protections Apple announced at its annual software developer conference on Monday, the latest in a years-long effort by the company to cut down on the tracking of its users by advertisers and other third parties. Apple’s decision to withhold the feature in China is the latest in a string of compromises the company has made on privacy in a country
PLEDGE: The contract chipmaker said it would issue at least NT$2.5 a share each quarter and no less than NT$10 per share for the whole of this year Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday raised its proposed cash dividend for last quarter to NT$2.75 per share from NT$2.5 a year earlier, given the company’s increased earnings. That represents a payout ratio of about 51 percent based on its earnings per share of NT$5.39 in the first three months of this year. TSMC said that its board of directors approved the cash dividend distribution yesterday. The Hsinchu-based chipmaker reassured its investors that it intends to maintain a stable and sustainable dividend policy. The company said that it would issue at least NT$2.5 a share
Apple Inc has hired Ulrich Kranz, a former senior executive at BMW AG’s electric vehicle (EV) division, to help lead its own vehicle efforts, people familiar with the situation said. The tech giant hired Kranz in recent weeks, about a month after he stepped down as CEO of Canoo Inc, a developer of self-driving EVs. Before cofounding Canoo, Kranz was senior vice president of the group that developed the i3 and i8 cars at BMW, where he worked for 30 years. Kranz is one of Apple’s most significant automotive hires, a clear sign that the iPhone maker is determined to build a
TIMELY RAIN: Before the arrival of the seasonal plum rains late last month, the nation had gone almost a year without significant rainfall in catchment areas Timely plum rains have significantly alleviated a historic water shortage in Taiwan, allowing water restriction measures to be lifted in some areas, while the hardest-hit areas remain on alert, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said yesterday. “Thanks to Tropical Storm Choi-Wan, the sustained plum rains and continued water resource management efforts, the water situation in Taiwan has been greatly alleviated,” Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美華) told an online news conference. More than 100mm of rain has fallen in the catchment areas of the reservoirs in Miaoli and Taichung counties over the past few days, Water Resources Agency data
RSS