Though NVIDIA and Acer enjoy a particularly close working relationship, Ackerson hints that Acer may collaborate with Qualcomm on future tablets.
FORBES: Acer Prepping 7-Inch Android Tablet, Weighing Meego Tablet
Because it boots up in a few seconds, rather than thinking of the Acer as a mini laptop it might make more sense to view it as a beefed-up personal digital assistant, such as an old PalmPilot or Psion, but with a better screen and a proper keyboard.
Lanci started in Italy and built Acer into a European powerhouse from that base.
Acer needs a leader who is familiar with technology, as well as understands the market.
ENGADGET: Acer's Jim Wong named Corporate President, will head new Touch Business Group
Acer, a crosstown rival in Taipei and first responder to Asustek's innovation, has since surpassed Asustek to become the number one company in the mini-laptop category.
Even in countries like Italy, where Acer is immensely popular, Gartner analyst Cozza says, it may take years for consumers to view Acer as a viable phone brand.
In attempting its current restructuring, Acer faces a formidable Asian rival in China's Lenovo Group, which ranks a close second behind Hewlett-Packard Co. as the world's biggest PC maker.
When Acer plans a global press event, asking journalists to fly in from twelve time zones away, you know it's going to announce more than just some back-to-school PCs.
"Acer took a fresh approach to the design and development of the Aspire S7, using premium construction methods and materials, " said Sumit Agnihotry, vice president of product marketing for Acer.
Acer presented a corn-ball act, with pretty girls dressed in "Star Trek" garb and two men posing as the characters Spock and Captain Kirk. (Because all nerds love "Star Trek, " right?).
Webaroo so far has inked a deal with computer maker Acer to load a 14-gigabyte version of the Web on laptops.
To gain a foothold in this fast-moving market, Acer is preparing a number of new tablets for release, including a small, 7-inch Google Android device and Gateway-branded tablets, Forbes has learned.
FORBES: Acer Prepping 7-Inch Android Tablet, Weighing Meego Tablet
More recently, Acer has nurtured a relationship with Google to keep Microsoft at bay.
Acer recently made a public statement saying that 5-10% of its U.S. PC shipments are Chromebooks these days.
Acer first released a Chromebook last year, as did Samsung, and the new C7 Chromebook is represents an update.
Acer LumiRead features a built-in Internet Browser, and the unique "Smart Download" saves website content for reading anytime, everywhere!
ENGADGET: Acer's 6-inch LumiRead to offer Barnes and Noble ebooks, ISBN scanner
The Acer C7 delivers a hassle-free computing experience with the speed, security and simplicity that users expect of Chromebooks built in.
ENGADGET: Acer unveils C7 Chromebook, portable cloud computing for just $199
Is the Acer instead quite a bit technically advanced vs the iPad?
FORBES: Acer Makes Things Interesting, Undercuts iPad 2 On Price
Citing research that consumers prize long battery life over other notebook features, Acer also announced a new series of notebooks that will last more than eight hours on a single charge.
The Acer model is a little over a centimetre thick.
FORBES: Acer Makes Things Interesting, Undercuts iPad 2 On Price
Acer already sells a lot of Android-based phones and relies on Google services such as Google Maps (hence, the leverage Google can apply to get Acer to hold back).
In terms of specs, Acer is being a little cagey, but we have learned the R7 has a 15.6-inch, 1080p display with a choice of Core i5 and i7 processors.
Acer clear.fi allows media to be managed, stored, shared and enjoyed on any clear.fi enabled devices in the home. clear.fi automatically connects all Acer devices on a network (smartphones, notebooks, desktops, HD media players and storage devices) and then gathers and organizes media files by media type.
ENGADGET: Acer outs AZ3, AZ5, Veriton Z Series all-in-ones, starting at $650
"The notebook market is growing for at least the next two to three years, and with the entry of new mobile Internet devices, the market can easily double in size, changing the profile of the industry dramatically, " President Gianfranco Lanci of Acer said in a Reuters interview.
If you've never heard of such a thing, Acer is hoping you'll use as a kitchen PC, or as an external monitor for keeping an eye on things like email.
The new Acer C7 comes with a standard one-year parts and labor warranty, which can be extended to three years with the Acer Advantage service.
ENGADGET: Acer unveils C7 Chromebook, portable cloud computing for just $199
It was a year ago at Computex that Acer unveiled the Aspire S7, a skinny sliver of a thing that turned out to be one of our favorite Ultrabooks of 2012.
If you recall, we had a chance to try out Acer's Aspire Timeline Ultra M3, a 14-inch Ultrabook also packing NVIDIA Kepler graphics.
Acer is also developing a smaller, 7-inch tablet for launch later this year.
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