Acer has today announced a new strategy to help bring the company back to its former profitability. Following two quarters of net losses, a new focus will see the company move away from making cheap junk. From here on out, Acer will start making products with good battery life, a thin design and lightweight construction. In other words, the sort of thing people actually want.
Speaking to Dow Jones, Acer CEO J.T. Wang said: "We will shift our strategy to improving profitability from pursuing market share blindly with cheap and unprofitable products." The next big thing in his books is the ultrabook, which is set to be Acer's big product for driving growth.
The ultrabook is a form factor developed by Intel that follows a specific set of specifications. Similar to the MacBook Air, ultrabooks typically come at a higher price than regular laptops. "Selling more ultrabooks will also help improve our profit margins as they command higher prices," Wang said.
Whether Acer will return to being profitable next year is uncertain. At the moment, hopes are being placed on Acer pushing growth in notebook sales. Estimates range at around a 10 percent increase in sales, but that's based on everything going to plan. Acer will have some stiff competition at the high end, and if the company is unable to shake off its old image it might be left floundering at the deep end.
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