If you are wanting to buy something slightly larger than the 10.1″ Acer Aspire One, don’t get your hopes up anytime soon.
Scott Lin, Acer Taiwan’s President, said Acer doesn’t plan on releasing any netbooks/ultraportables above 10 inches. He did note that even the 10-inch devices have impacted the 12-inch market for notebooks/laptops, and I’m inclined to agree. In the past, you paid a high price to get something in that size range, and with these devices, we’ve seen a lot of interest from people who wouldn’t have been willing to buy one of the more expensive 12-inch laptops.
Lin did mention that he expected 25-30 million netbooks/ultraportables/mininotebooks to be sold in 2009, with the numbers going up to 40-45 million in 2010. According to Taiwan Economic News, they expect the 10-inch segment of the market to dominate in 2009, with up to 70% of the market share.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Acer’s Chairman said that Acer Aspire Ones account for around 30% of Acer’s notebook sales.
For those who are fans of the original Intel Atom-powered 8.9″ Acer Aspire One, you don’t need to worry. The 8.9-inch line will continue to be produced for the time being. Sometime later this month or earlier in March, Acer will make some pricing and specification adjustments to the line,
Read:
– Wall Street Journal
– Taipei Times
– Taiwan Economic News
– DigiTimes