By Eva Dou
TAIPEI--The chairman of Taiwan's Acer Inc., until recently one
of Microsoft Corp.'s harshest critics, said on Tuesday that the
"crisis" surrounding Windows 8 is abating as he tried to convince
investors the personal-computer maker is recovering from two years
of losses.
Acer Chairman J.T. Wang gave a very different speech at
Tuesday's investor conference than six months ago when he blamed
Microsoft for competing against Acer and other hardware partners by
launching its own-brand Surface tablet and throwing the PC industry
into uncertainty with its new operating system Windows 8. Microsoft
on Tuesday said that it is making changes to its sales strategy and
to its software to address user complaints with a coming update
dubbed "Windows Blue."
"The sense of crisis is falling," the 58-year-old Mr. Wang said.
"Even if they (Microsoft) are still doing the Surface, they do it
cautiously and have become more considerate in dealing with
partners in the ecosystem."
Acer, the world's fourth-largest PC maker by shipments, for
years made its living primarily off low-cost notebooks and lacks
the high-end research strength of some of its competitors. It has
struggled more than its peers as the tide turned toward mobile
devices and has seen its market share erode globally. Acer brought
aboard a new chief marketing officer this year as it tries to rise
above its reputation as a maker of low-grade laptops.
Microsoft has been working more closely with Acer and other
hardware makers in recent months, Acer's corporate president Jim
Wong said. Besides the support that Microsoft gives partners for
marketing, Mr. Wong said the U.S. company also ran a program to
support development of certain high-end Windows 8 products such as
Acer's Aspire R7 computer, a swiveling convertible laptop that the
company launched last week.
Additionally, Acer is participating in Microsoft's program to
develop more Windows 8 devices smaller than 11.6 inches, Mr. Wang
said. He declined to give details as he said Acer will no longer
announce products until half a month before they reach store
shelves.
The company will continue rolling out lower-end Android tablets
to drive shipments, after selling 1.2 million tablets in the first
quarter, Mr. Wong said. The company forecast second-quarter
shipments of mobile computing devices to remain flat or at best
rise 5% from the first quarter.
Acer's PC shipments fell 11% in the first-quarter, while
operating margin slipped to a razor-thin 0.03%, its lowest since
the third-quarter of 2011, the company said Wednesday.
First-quarter revenue fell 18.7% to 91.97 billion New Taiwan
dollars (US$3.11 billion) from NT$113.06 billion a year earlier,
its lowest level since mid-2006. But with the help of foreign
exchange and stock disposal gains, the company's net profit rose
80.7% to 515 million New Taiwan dollars (US$17.4 million) from a
restated NT$285 million a year earlier.
Kirk Yang, managing director at Barclays Tech Research, said
that Acer is unlikely to gain market share in the near-term due to
stiff competition, but profitability is gradually improving.
Acer said it operating margin may fall into negative territory
in the second quarter for the first time in two years, before
rising in the second half to between 0.5% and 1%.
Write to Eva Dou at Eva.Dou@wsj.com
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