Ultrabooks and netbooks will eventually merge, Acer believes
After a relatively bleak 2011, Acer is now preparing itself more than ever for a big comeback this year.
Acer CEO JT Wang started off the Year of the Dragon with a number of comments and predictions about what to expect from Acer and the notebook market in general. In particular, Wang made some stern beliefs on the future of notebooks. According to DigiTimes, Acer claims that Ultrabooks and netbooks will become the same segment two years from now. The assumption goes hand in hand with Acer’s plans to increase focus and production of Ultrabooks in 2012. As netbook sales continue to dwindle and Ultrabook prices continue to drop, it might not be surprising at all to eventually see ultrathin Intel notebooks taking the place of less powerful netbooks.
Still, the Taiwanese manufacturer is looking for a middle ground in 2012. Wang sees the low-end and high-end tablet market dominated by Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Apple’s iPad family, respectively, so Acer will instead settle for mid-range products at $299+ price points. Additionally, the company is also expecting to launch even cheaper Ultrabooks this year starting from $699. The original Aspire S3 retailed late last year for only $899, so a $700 Ultrabook is certainly a possibility by this year’s end.