Acer Aspire One

As of today, it is official, Acer has moved into second place in terms of global share of the PC market.  For the quarter ending September 30, according to Gardner Group here is the ranking:

1. HP (19.9%)
2. Acer (15.4%)
3. Dell (12.8%)
4. Lenovo (8.5%)
5. Toshiba (5.0%)

So while Michael Dell is bashing netbooks and wishing that customers would return to purchasing higher margin full-size laptops, Acer is embracing change and driving innovative products into the marketplace.

I also believe that Dell suffers from its senseless dedication to its direct sales model.  While Acer products are available from many merchants, Dell products are hard to find at merchant sites.  Dell still expects customers to order custom versions online and wait weeks for delivery.  Most of today’s customers won’t wait weeks for delivery.

Acer Liquid Smartphone

For example, Acer is preparing to introduce its Liquid smartphone which is based on Google’s Android operating system and a Snapdragon processor.  The Liquid smartphone has a WVGA touchscreen, HSPA connectivity and a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, geo-tagging, ISO and a self-timer.

The exciting thing about the Liquid is the Snapdragon processor which is expected to provide smooth HD video and 3D graphics.

In addition, Acer is also introducing a new version of their Aspire One netbook which will sport both Android and Microsoft Windows in a dual boot arrangement.  The advantage of offering Android on the netbook, is fast boot access to do web browsing and email.

So, hats off to Acer!

Dell Mini Inspiron 10v

Last Tuesday, at a industry dinner in Silicon Valley, Michael Dell said this about netbooks:

“Take a user who’s used to a 15-inch notebook and then give him a 10-inch netbook. He’ll say ‘Oh, this is so cool, it’s so lightweight.’ Then 36 hours later he’ll say the screen’s not big enough, give me my 15-inch back.”

He also went on to say that a fair amount of customers were unsatisfied with the smaller screens and lower-performance parts.

Many industry observers were surprised by Michael Dell’s statements, especially since Dell offers a variety of netbooks – and since netbooks are the only growing segment in the PC marketplace.

But I am not surprised at all.  Why not?

Netbooks were popularized by Asus, Acer and MSI.  When the first netbooks hit the market in spring/summer 2008, they were an instant hit.  These three Taiwan-based companies saw their global market share balloon as a result.

The old-school laptop OEMs got into the game late.   For them, every sale of a netbook was stealing from the sales of higher-margin traditional laptops.  They only manufacture netbooks to protect marketshare.

Dell, HP, Lenovo, Toshiba and Fujitsu all hope that the netbook craze is short-lived – and that normal business will resume soon.

My comment to the old-school laptop makers is this:

Wake up!  The world is different.  Adapt or die.

Sharp PC-Z1

Sharp has announced the introduction in Japan of a smartbook with a 5″ display named PC-Z1.

Sharp is officially calling the PC-Z1 a “mobile internet tool” (avoiding the smartbook label) and claims that it is “as easy to handle as a mobile phone and that has performance similar to that of a PC.”

The 5″ touchscreen will provide resolution equal to most netbooks (1024 x 600).  The unit will ship with a 4 GB SSD and will run Ubuntu “Smartbook” Remix (Linux).

The PC-Z1 will be powered by a Freescalee i.MX515 processor, which is a 800 MHz ARM processor optimized for HD (720p) support.  The smartbook will have 512 MB of RAM and will support the 802.11b/g wireless LAN standard.

Sharp will pre-load the PC-Z1 with the Firefox browser with Adobe Flash, Thunderbird email client, Sunbird scheduler, OpenOffice.org office suite, Totem video player and other software.

Sharp claims a “quick launch” time of 3 seconds (from sleep state) and a battery life of 10 hours.

Sharp plans to begin shipment of the PC-Z1 on September 25 in Japan.  The tiny laptop will be available in three colors: white, black and red.

Smartbook Prototype

Qualcomm has been releasing some very nice videos showing their new Snapdragon processor in use.

There looks to be several different Smartbooks being released this year that will be using the Snapdragon.

One of the things to watch for in the videos is the different sizes of these tablet-based Smartbooks.  I’m not sure what flavor of OS they are running.

The fact that Ford and Dodge vehicles are shown very heavily, makes me wonder if the automobile industry is going to incorporate smartbooks into some vehicles in the near future.

Anyways, check out the videos because they are pretty cool!

I’ve seen lots of videos and have heard price points as low as $150.00 for a device that can play 720p high-definition video.

Hank Robinson shows us in the following video some of the near future devices running the Snapdragon with Android and Kubuntu.

Check it out and let us know what you think? Netbook killer or not?

Benefits

Devices based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon^TM platform deliver:

• Optimized power management for all-day battery life
• Ubiquitous, real-time connectivity
• Rich Internet browsing experience
• Access to real-time, personalized and location-aware content
• Streaming and playback of locally stored high-definition video content
• High performance 3D UIs, games, maps and more
• High-quality still pictures and video clips
• Access to social networks through instant messaging, video conferencing and chat

Technical Features for QSD8×50 chipsets

The QSD8×50 platform consists of the QSD8250™ which supports GSM, GPRS, EDGE, HSPA networks while the QSD8650™ supports both CDMA2000 1X, 1xEV-DO Rel 0/A/B, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, HSPA networks. Both chipsets include:

• 1 GHz CPU
• 600MHz DSP
• Integrated 3G mobile broadband
• Support for Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® connectivity
• Built-in seventh-generation gpsOne® engine with Standalone-GPS and Assisted-GPS modes
• High-definition (720p) video decode, and multiple video codec support
• High-performance 3D graphics – up to 22M triangles/sec and 133M 3D pixels/sec
• High-resolution up to WXGA (1280×720) display support
• 12-megapixel camera support
• Multiple audio codecs: (AAC+, eAAC+, AMR, FR, EFR, HR, WB-AMR, G.729a, G.711, AAC stereo encode)
• Support for mobile broadcast TV (MediaFLO™, DVB-H and ISDB-T)
• Support for Windows Mobile®, Android, and a number of Linux®-based operating systems
• Qualcomm’s hybrid mode alternative solution

Technical Features for QSD8672 chipsets

The single-chip, dual-CPU QSD8672™ includes most of the above features, in addition to:

• Dual CPUs, up to 1.5 GHz for faster response and processing
• Low-power 45nm process technology for higher integration and performance
• Higher-resolution WSXGA (1440 x 900) display support
• High-definition (1080p) video recording and playback
• Support for HSPA+ networks – 28 Mbps downloads and 11 Mbps uploads
• Supports CDMA2000 1X, 1xEV-DO Rel 0/A/B networks
• Improved 3D graphics – up to 80M triangles/sec and 500M+ 3D pixels/sec