Acer increases tablet shipment volumes for April

In order to better compete with the likes of Apple and Motorola in the tablet market, Taiwan-based computer manufacturer Acer has reportedly upped its shipment numbers of Iconia tablets.

Digitimes claims Acer has notified its component sources to supply enough for 800,000 tablet units for the month of April, up from the previous target of 500,000. Most of these units are expected to be the 10-inch Acer Iconia Tab A501, which is the A500 variant with 4G compatibilities under the U.S. AT&T network. Overall, Acer anticipates to ship 5-7 million tablet PCs throughout this year.

As a result, Acer will be cutting down its netbook numbers and forecasts, and is “aiming to have tablet PC products cover the gap.” The company is likely preparing itself for lower than normal netbook sales this year due in part by the rise of similarly priced tablets that can offer much of the same functionalities. In fact, Acer has already fell short of its expected netbook sales for Q1 2011, so reducing future netbook volumes is definitely looking like a good idea for now.

The company itself has been experiencing major internal changes lately, including CEO reshuffling and a possible change in market ideology.

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