Taiwanese computer maker Acer Group will unveil Tuesday the first products in its ambitious
plan to create new electronics devices with all the power of personal computers at a fraction of the cost.
At a speech in Washington on Tuesday, Acer Chairman and Chief Executive Stan Shih will detail plans for what his
company calls its XC, or X Computer, to distinguish it from traditional PCs, or personal computers.
Acer's strategy is to build personal computer technologies into a wide range of XC devices priced from $200 to $1,000
-- far less than most general-purpose PCs now sold, he said.
Among the products Acer plans to offer starting later this year are a kid's computer priced at $199 and a two pound
sub-notebook computer for students and journalists priced at between $600 and $700, Shih said in a phone interview
Monday.
Other examples of Acer's plans include devices that connect to a television set to provide home-banking, TV-based
Internet access, or control of home security alarm systems, he said.
XCs are designed to extend the potential audience for PCs well beyond the 5 percent of the world who now have
access to personal computers, which are more costly and difficult to use, he said.
"The PC will not disappear, nor will XCs replace the PC," Shih said. "A better solution is to 'disintegrate' many of these
technologies and create solutions that do very specific tasks very well, all the time," he said.
Instead, software will be pre-programmed to accomplish particular tasks and computer processing will take place in the
background, eliminating the complexity associated with PCs.
The XCs would be more like appliances with only one use, much like a toaster, a VCR, or a microwave oven.
By relying on existing PC hardware, software and Internet standards, Acer will take advantage of the high-volume,
low-cost economics which fueled the PC boom while avoiding the perils of developing new, unproven technologies,
Shih said.
Because Acer makes not just PCs, but most of the components used inside PCs, Acer is poised to benefit however the
market for PC components takes shape, be it for PCs or XCs, he added.
Kevin Hause, consumer PC analyst at International Data Corp., said that as PC market growth has slowed in recent
years, computer makers have begun to look for ways to inject computing powers into a wider range of consumer
electronics.
"By leaving out all the flexibility that's inherent in the general purpose PC, Acer can make products that are more
simple and elegant," Hause said. "Acer sees this as a big opportunity and is diving in head first," he said.
By contrast, Hause said other major computer makers have shown reluctance to cannibalize their existing consumer
PC businesses by offering lower-cost, PC-enabled consumer electronics.
"We really haven't seen the IBM's, Compaq's and, to some degree, the Sony's of the world take anything more than
hesitant steps to enter this market," Hause said.
Shih plans to outline five basic XC categories for products Acer will manufacture and sell both under its own brand and
for other manufacturers that will make use of Acer XC components.
The Acer executive will announce the XC product plans during a keynote speech in Washington on Tuesday at the
1998 World Congress on Information Technology. Shih first revealed the XC strategy in a speech last November in
San Francisco. |
