Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.A couple of years ago I bought an Acer Aspire One. Fine light netbook which cost c£250 and was my travel companion of choice. Last year I bought an iPad1 which immediately became my new travel companion of choice. Can’t remember when I last turned on my Aspire One.
This huge change (you remember this was part of my Earthquake theme) can be illustrated in two bits of news in the last day or two:
1 - Acer issued a major revenue and profits warning (See FT 25th March 11) Looks like revenues on the once #2 PC supplier are falling like a stone – down 10% two quarters in a row. Shares have nose-dived since. The ‘cannibalisation’ of their conventional market by the iPad is one of the major reasons – although supply chain worries in Japan didn’t help the share price either. In turn Acer has been slow to launch its own tablet.
2 – Apple has now basically announced that it has sold out of iPad2s just days after the global launch (including the UK). See Apple iPad sells out worldwide.
The iPad launch is turning out to be about the most disruptive in technology's history – certainly the speed of its adoption is unprecedented. As readers know, I firmly believe that this scale of disruption in many areas of our sector will be the hallmark of our reporting over the next few years and many of the global players should be quaking their boots.