Eastern computer tech manufacturers like Acer and Asus are going all-in for touchscreen tech in notebooks. Next year, touch and non-touch units may cost nearly the same.
For decades, hardware makers have built huge PC businesses on the back of Microsoft, which provided the companies with software. But that model has radically evolved in recent years. Can Acer keep up with the changes?
Around the launch of Windows 8 and Surface tablet, we ask some of Microsoft's biggest stakeholders--and competitors--how the device and operating system have impacted their abilities to innovate.
Thanks to companies like Tagstand--and several government-backed efforts--a wave of NFC technology will break over much of the world next year. When will the U.S. catch up?
How'd HP do it? Seemingly by just slashing the price to $99. But even at bargain basement prices, consumers want usability. For other also-ran tablets who aspire to nip at Apple's heels, there's a lesson here in finding the sweet spot between price, design, and function.
We pronounced the netbook phenomenon all but over in 2010--they're now merely another low-cost laptop class. Except that Intel doesn't think so, and wants to lavish high-tech attention on these low-end machines. Call it folly. Call it tablet envy. Just don't call it a sustainable business model.
With the launch of its A500 tablet--only the second to sport Google's Honeycomb OS--Acer reveals big plans: It's shedding its volume-over-value mission that served it so well in the netbook game, and aiming for a well-made product.
