Acer’s Everywhere. How Did That Happen?
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
It's such a typical distracted and convoluted main stream news that after reading the article my brain was like a messed up Rubik's Cube and I had to twist much just to summarize only two points:
* Aggressive investment in Netbook, which is supposed to be disruptive innovation. This is fine.
* Acer is free to choose low cost parts for its laptop -- this is considerably fluffier as if its competitors are doing (trying to do) the same.
Anyone else has a better idea?
1. Computers, even laptops, become commoditized and don't require much of R&D to design and produce.
2. The majority of PC sales are consumers' who, unlike business customers, prefer cheap disposable junk, hence there isn't a single 24-bit true-color laptop available to buy these days: they're all gone. (which makes me wonder: what is the point of these high-tech digital SLRs?)
Don't bring the Apple argument: their success rests on value-add services/software that just happen to run well on in-house hardware.
P.S. Suddenly, IBM's decision to sell off PC business several years ago looks even more impressive.
The margin of Acer is 2%. That is really really low. IBM margins in services must be in 20s.
It's not just laptops - find a decent display for a desktop.
According to a Pixar presentation that I saw a couple of years ago, the disappearance of decent CRTs was a big concern for them.
Acer, Asus, MSI, LG, Levono, HTC were OEMs for popular brands who decided to strike off on their own.
I don't think the comment you're replying to claims that LG was the only manufacturer of displays, just that it has manufactured displays badged with other brands (and perhaps still does) and recently started selling them under its own name (perhaps as well, rather than instead).
LG does manufactures portable hard drives and has a partnership with Hitachi to manufacture internal hds. ( http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/21/lg-reveals-xd1-family-of-... )
Here is a list of Dell displays with their respective manufacturers, including LG/Philips ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_monitors )
Intel’s Everywhere. How Did That Happen? (nytimes.com)
And it suddenly becomes obvious: you need a case for the chips, preferably with the least margin possible for .tw - Quoting Otellini is not an accident. Those who had the doublethought of going ARM/MIPS are suffering hard.