An Acer Smartphone
Acer will release smartphones in China later this year or early next year. The company will try to tap into the potentially huge market, but it’s unclear if these handsets will be powered by Windows Mobile or Android.
Acer this week said it is in talks with China’s carriers to bring a smartphone to the country, and it will build a research and development center in Shanghai and double the number of sales outlets it has in the country.
The move would give the computer maker a better chance of leapfrogging the likes of Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Research In Motion , HTC, and Apple in the increasingly crowded smartphone market.
InformationWeek said it’s unclear what type of Acer smartphones will be released in China, as the company said it would eventually have smartphones that utilize the Google-backed Android operating system.
The handsets using the open source Android could potentially be cheaper than those with Microsoft’s mobile OS, and this could be critical in getting mass adoption in China.
The company is negotiating with China Unicom to release a smartphone at the end of 2009, said a qq.com report quoting Acer chairman Wang Zhentang.
Acer is negotiating with the Shanghai government to establish a software research and development center in the city. Details on the center’s focus, investment and recruitment were not provided.
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