Acer introduces 7-inch and 10.1-inch Android tablets, shipping April 2011
Shocker of shockers, folks — Acer's getting into the tablet game, too. With the holidays too close for comfort, the outfit's giving everyone pause that was considering that janky Android tablet on sale for Black Friday.
Context & Ripple Effects
Acer is following through on the tablet line CEO Gianfranco Lanci previewed in October, when the company said it would launch in New York on November 23rd with pricing from $299 to $699 (that $299–$699 lineup). Today's announcement fills in the shape of it: two Android slates at 7 inches and 10.1 inches, both shipping in April 2011 rather than for the holidays.
The timing matters because Android arrives with momentum behind it — Gartner put the platform in the top spot among U.S. smartphone operating systems by August 2010, and Quantcast data that summer showed it at 25% of U.S. mobile web browsing. Acer is also announcing the Iconia dual-screen device and a 4.8-inch Android phone the same day, making this a coordinated Android expansion across form factors.
First-order effects
- Holiday shoppers weighing cheap Android tablets on sale for Black Friday now face a choice between buying an unknown-brand slate now or waiting until April 2011 for Acer's mainstream-brand alternatives.
- Acer's existing Windows-centric tablet PC plans get an Android complement across two screen sizes, putting the vendor in both camps within a single product cycle.
Second-order effects
- Rival PC makers watching Acer commit to Android tablets face pressure to match the dual-size strategy, since sitting out leaves the sub-$700 tablet shelf to smaller brands during the 2011 spring season.
- Android's phone-era distribution advantage — carrier deals, app ecosystem growth — becomes a selling point Acer can leverage against non-Android tablets at retail.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, tablets stop being a niche accessory category and become a standard line item every major PC vendor must field alongside laptops, with screen size tiers (roughly 7-inch and 10-inch) hardening into default segmentation.
- Android's extension from smartphones — where Gartner already had it leading U.S. share — into tablets points toward Google's platform becoming the default OS choice for hardware makers entering new device categories.
The trend: Android is expanding from its dominant U.S. smartphone position into the tablet market as major PC vendors like Acer build entire device lineups around Google's platform.