Acer's market share position at the moment is generally good especially around Q2 2024, which is supported by over 50 percent growth in gaming laptop sales which is especially encouraging in the Philippines. This was also encouraged by the annual Asia Pacific Predator League 2024 event that took place in Manila at the beginning of January.
Thinking for the long term, Acer certainly has the desire to further strengthen its role and position in the future. In addition to focusing on products with a lifestyle concept rather than just hardware. To find out more, an interview with a group of Acer representatives was held for more in-depth sharing. The line-up of Acer representatives who have been interviewed consists of:
President of Acer Pan Asia Pacific, Andrew Hou
Co-COO & President of IT Products, Jerry Kao
General Manager, Notebook Products Business James K. Lin
Director, Spatial Computing Product Business Development, Jane Hsu
Extension General Manager, Wayne Ma
Acer Digital Display Business & Product Management Senior Director, Marc Ho.
Towards Lifestyle Concept Products
“For the consumer, PC, Desktop & gaming segment. The Philippines is a very strong market for Acer” – Andrew Hou
Through an interview with a group of media representatives in Taiwan recently, Acer Pan Asia Pacific President Andrew Hou has explained several things regarding the direction of the company in the future. Share to the media Acer's position at this point is on a solid footing in several Southeast Asian countries, particularly the Philippines, but much smaller in Japan. This has indirectly raised quite significant questions about why the difference occurred.
Then Andrew said, there are some constraints that are faced and have been identified by them. One of them is that they are faced with a situation that tends to be complicated in a competitive market like Japan. This is because the PC product range indeed has a large market scale in Japan with groups of users who already have their own choices. Followed by significant thoughts about what products perform. A challenging situation when a large part of the market has also been dominated by brands from the country itself.
In contrast to Southeast Asian markets such as the Philippines, which have a larger population of young consumers and are open to new ideas. At the same time seeing that Acer was able to form an encouraging growth in the market. Andrew also explained that the main aspect of the growth was also driven by the gaming segment through the annual Asia Pacific Predator League event that was held in the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand at the same time making the brand continue to grow and see more positive results for the Predator product market.
However, the constraints that occur in Japan should not be an obstacle for Acer to continue to dominate the market of the rising sun. In fact, recently they are intensifying their efforts to promote their presence there by diversifying activities that the public can participate in later.
Andrew also shared Acer's success on the RE100 initiative which has now surpassed the initial target by 40%. He then continues to intensify certain efforts in order to achieve the target of 100% renewable energy use earlier than the recommended 2035. In addition, he said Acer is in the big planning for the development of artificial intelligence technology which is developing rapidly at this time. In pursuit of this matter Acer cooperates with well-known processor brands such as Intel and AMD to develop an effective marketing strategy.
In addition, Andrew said, Acer's focus is now more focused on products with a lifestyle concept and is no longer focused on hardware and technology alone. Therefore the next step Acer will continue to find ways to make their products more prominent to users including under AcerPure itself.
Acer also plans to be more aggressive in offering the AcerPure product range in Malaysia and Indonesia in the future. However, they admit that they still do not have any specific application-based solutions for the wider connection of all products, instead via bluetooth and WiFi connections at this time.
No Plans For Console In The Near-Term
"There is still no time frame. Since that segment (consoles) is also very competitive. We need to ensure a solid product before we produce it”- Jerry Kou
The interview session continued with Acer representatives who shared about future technological advancement plans including for the Spatial device range. The four representatives who explained the matter consisted of Co-COO and President of IT Products Jerry Kao, General Manager, Notebook Products Business James K. Lin, Director, Business Development, Spatial Computing Products Business Jane Hsu and General Manager of Connections Wayne Ma.
Starting the interview with the situation of the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology is seen to have brought about major changes in various fields as well as being able to provide access to a wider range of information. But it certainly exposes society to various threats and increasingly complex cyber attacks.
In a situation like this Acer says new and innovative social protection solutions are needed to achieve an effective level of consumer protection. Therefore, they collaborate with certain parties in creating technology and security innovations to ensure users are safer. Will be offered in future new products including the ability to control AI features according to user needs. Acer also admits that they constantly monitor user feedback to make the necessary improvements to the products supplied to users. The results of this feedback can be used as guidance and improvement references for more effective solutions in producing better quality products.
When asked about the planning of mobile console devices as produced by several manufacturers such as ASUS and MSI, Acer admitted that indeed they are paying attention to it but there is still no specific time frame to launch it. Since the segment is also very competitive, they need to ensure a solid product before producing it. There are also several aspects that need to be paid attention to in the production process, namely the compatibility of the user interface, the usage model and the selling price for the market to ensure that it is accessible to the consumer gaming ecosystem. All that can be said now is the future and always looking for the best solution for R&D purposes.
Commenting on the progress of SpatialLabs technology in the future, Acer said that it will continue to improve the user experience to a better level, including for the existing product range. Next, be more proactive in finding creative solutions to enable products to be used with various software solutions. At the same time can be used smoothly by many parties.
Bigger Monitors Are Coming
"We Already Have AI Features In Some Monitors." – Mark Ho
This interview session closed with a sharing on the development of the Acer monitor market with Acer's Senior Director of Product Management and Digital Display Business, Marc Ho. He shared in a statement that he is preparing to present a new, larger monitor under the Predator series soon. He also explained that the Acer device range is also ready to integrate a number of features based on artificial intelligence with a more holistic approach. For example, such as the ability to adjust the color temperature based on the environment and content.
Looking back, Acer is one of the brands that participated in the annual exhibition COMPUTEX 2024. Through it various products and advanced technologies have been produced to facilitate the needs of users in every era. This year's theme is Connecting AI which focuses on Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology which is developing very rapidly, and is changing many aspects of modern life. By doing so, Acer is seen to be successful in bringing innovation that changes the way users interact in a more modern way.
