The Acer Guy

TheAcerGuy moves

2007-03-07T16:50:00.000+01:00

I have mentioned before on numerous occasions that I wanted to move this blog over to its own domain.

Well the time has come to make the change so I would invite you to visit TheAcerGuy's new home at www.theacerguy.com.

Like all things new, this change came with its own, unique set of problems. In switching over to Wordpress, I have lost all the comments and some of the images are still stored on Blogger's servers so this blog will remain open as long as they'll let me.

I have imported the Swicki but it no longer offers images. At least the file is the same! And I still have to get the RSS subscription options up.

Apart from that, it's running fine. See you there.

Acer ranked 46!!

2007-03-06T15:15:00.000+01:00

Another sports announcement: Acer has now teamed up with Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd., becoming Official Sponsor of Yamaha Factory Racing Team.

Rumours of Valentino Rossi's association with Ferrari have been circulating throughout his global fan base for years.

Acer, already Official Sponsor to Scuderia Ferrari, has just given them another direct link as can be seen in the photo kindly "borrowed" from Derapate.

Joking aside, this announcement, published here, is yet another step forward in Acer's aggressive sponsorship campaigns announced this year and, according to the press release, will see the Acer brand placed on both the motorbikes and on the race suits of Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards, all pit crew member uniforms working in the box and on all transport vehicles of the team.

If the excitement over Valentino's riding skills this season are anything like his performance last year (check out this French commentator at the 2006 Donington GP), Acer's popularity will be catapulted through the roof!

Good idea kicks up a Storm

2007-02-28T12:36:00.000+01:00

In a case of "credit where credit is due", I gotta hand it to the guys at Dell for bringing the world IdeaStorm.

Without going over the where's and the why's, and leaving aside the how's and who's for a minute, have you seen the what's?

If anyone's unfamiliar with IdeaStorm, it takes the Web 2.0 voting system made famous by Digg and applies it in a kind of online suggestion box. Shel Holtz gives a pretty good review on his blog.

The results must be making some people very very nervous indeed.

At time of writing, the suggestion "Offer the 3 top free Linux versions for free pre-installation on all Dell PCs" had received 92,806 votes (in 12 days) while "Provide OpenOffice.org for free pre-installation alongside Microsoft Works and Microsoft Office. OpenOffice.org is more capable than Microsoft Works, and a serious competitor to Microsoft Office, at a fraction of the cost (it's free!)" had clocked up 60,300 votes (in 11 days).

Given the "weight" of bundled MS software on the final price of all Windows PCs, and the fact that a huge percentage of calls to customer support are software-related issues as opposed to hardware failures, it'll be interesting to see where this goes. After all if the public is ready, who's to blame Dell for putting pressure on MS?

I wonder how closely the boys from Redmond are following this.

Acer gets into a Ferrari Challenge

2007-02-28T11:46:00.000+01:00

Who said computers were boring?

Die-hard gamers know they’re not and anyone who’s earned 8 Linden dollars an hour gyrating somewhere meaningless in SecondLife knows there’s plenty of room for a giggle online.

Yesterday I received another mail from Ferrari World which I like to keep track of but never ventured into as I’m a little fussy about my paid memberships and have trouble thinking what Ferrari could possibly offer me under a paid subscription that I can’t get free somewhere else online. But that’s another story.

I was intrigued by the words “X-Challenge” on one of the stories and clicked to see what it was.

Turns out Ferrari World has launched a free racing simulation game called Ferrari X-Challenge where you can whiz round Fiorano or Mugello in an F430 Challenge. Club Ferrari members get to race each other online which is where that subscription fee enters the equation. Without it you’re on your own which, if you’re like me and your virtual driving skills would get you arrested in real life, is much better as I did more damage to my car than I’d care to admit publicly.

What’s this got to do with Acer? Well, as Official Sponsors to Scuderia Ferrari, Acer gets its own car!

Personally I think looking at a Ferrari F430 in “Acer Green” is more of a challenge than getting to grips with the car itself but hey, nobody’s perfect!

c530 up and running straight out of the box

2007-02-22T11:28:00.000+01:00

I know this might sound a bit of an oxymoron but here's an interesting video I found over on YouTube of a guy unpacking his Acer c530 Pocket PC.

Why's this interesting? Apart from the sheer quantity of connection cables that come out of the box, I like the way the guy is able to unpack it, fit the battery and have it working in less that 150 seconds.

I'm not sure if that's a record but it sure is impressive to see something working so fast straight out of the box. Certainly never happens to me...

Acer build quality

2007-02-20T17:34:00.000+01:00

Here's an interesting forum I ran into today.

NotebookReviews is a site dedicatd to open (sometimes very open) discussions on the quality of products and services from IT manufacturers.

I was looking at the "Acer build quality" forum and thought I'd share this poll with you.

Alexa's take on the world of IT

2007-02-20T16:32:00.000+01:00

As many of you know, I've been getting really interested in Acer's online performance.

No, I'm not talking about SignalUp technology or wireless connectivity.

I'm referring to its sites.

I am a regular visitor to Alexa, which although mind-bogglingly geeky, does give a pretty good view of the world's top websites.

TheAcerGuy isn't there of course, but Acer is, along with its local satellite sites and, more importantly, its competitors.

If you throw in enough addresses, and plot the differences in Word, Excel or whatever, comparing the results can make fascinating reading (if you're in to that sort of thing).

But there's one feature I'm particularly fond of and right now it's showing a major shift. Alexa traffic Rankings gives you the possibility to compare site performance with competitors on the same graph (up to 5 at a time).

Now Acer's at the bottom of my 5 brand list (Dell, HP, Lenovo and Asus) but rather than drawing your attenytion to the bottom (the only way is up!), have a look at what's going on up at the top. All but 1 is stable.

Daily Reach (20/02/2007)

Daily Page Views (20/02/2007)

What on earth is happening to Dell??

OK Page Reach is different to Page Views (can anyone explain this in plain English?) but either way there's a worrying haemorrhage there.

Are you seeing this Richard?

Acer C510 at Crave

2007-02-12T10:14:00.000+01:00

There's something spooky about Acer at the moment.

Don't get alarmed, this is not a warning, complaint or anything like that. Just the opposite.

For years Acer has been the underdog, living silently with this "budget PC" name tag. I personally always championed Acer's notebooks because I literally penned (typed) my entire career on them. How's that for an endorsement?

But now things are different for Acer. Call it expanded product range, call it technical expertise, but lately Acer just keeps getting it right.

First of all you can see it in the way it's rapidly becoming one of the top brands.

Then you can see it in the way it's now compared with the big-boys in the home entertainment sector, how it's learning the rules and making its own particular mark with innovative convergence products like the Aspire iDea.

And now there are reviews like this one for the Acer C510 Pocket PC over on Crave.

As a general rule, Acer picks uphill battles with some of its products, combining two (or more) products in one and upsetting one or the other parties. Witness the 37" LCD TV with built-in media gateway, the MP340 portable hard-disk-cum-MP3 player. And then there are the hand-held devices.

By combining a pocket PC with a GPS navigator, Acer has carved a whole new challeng for its designers and technicians but, judging by the review, seems to have pulled it off.

"There are some ropey examples out there, but Acer seems to be getting the hang of combining a Pocket PC with GPS. The key thing it's got right with the C510 is the integrated antenna -- some rivals have flip-out aerials, which make them a bit unwieldy. It's also small and pocketable, weighing just 122g."

Sounds like Acer's pretty much figured out this convergence thing.

Italian Press Conference photos

2007-02-09T12:33:00.000+01:00

As promised, here are some photos taken at yesterday's Italian press conference.

Apologies for the quality but do have a look at the past models. It's fascinating to see how just how much notebooks have changed in such a short period of time.

Acer Italy press conference

2007-02-08T20:53:00.000+01:00

Today I got to get out of the office and go into town.

I’m in Milan at the Acer Italy Press Conference. So far the vibe’s pretty good.

There’s a video playing at the moment showing the numerous awards received by Acer and its products over the last year or so. I’ll have to see if I can get my hands on a version to post here although it’s a long one.

The presenters today include Massimo D’Angelo, country manager for Italy, and Valentina Sodini, the Italian notebook product manager. This is her first time in front of the press. As it turns out she’s a natural.

The plan is to talk about results (we already know those but thankfully they get them out of the way right away) and 2007 objectives which is a little more interesting but that’s just me.

The usual line up of current products greeted the attendees but that wasn’t the major attraction. At the back of the conference room – placed on top of a snaking display case that showed the major milestones in the evolution of the brand, from its origins as Multitech through to the name change in 1987 and brand logo evolution – were some of the most significant notebooks in Acer’s history, ranging from the TravelMate 2000 from 1990 right up to the latest Veriton 1000 small form factor PC.

Tomorrow I’ll get a Flickr slide show up – it’s really worth a look.

There is definitely a shift in focus here. The change from a sales-oriented company to one proud of its origins, identity and future is palpable.

OK. Massimo’s on. He starts off by looking at the global positioning, Acer is fourth, only slightly behind Lenovo so at least we have a clear shot at the objective for 2007.

In EMEA, Acer is number 2 overall behind HP but number 1 for notebooks. HP shouldn’t be underestimated though as they’re growing very, very fast in EMEA. Interesting fact: the two leading companies represent over 40% of the total notebook market.

Desktops are a little less promising; Acer is in third position behind HP and Dell.

The competitive edge is coming through. Massimo is clearly aware of the difficulties of the market, the abilities of the competition and also the sheer potential of Acer.

Massimo is now talking about the challenges Acer faced in 2006 among which, reduced ASPs feature heavily. This is interesting in light of the declarations made by Gianpiero Morbello a few days ago in the UK. Perhaps Acer is so confident about the success of its products that it has decided to drive the market back up again?

OBJECTIVES
Become Top 2 within 2008.
N.1 notebook
N.3 desktop
N.4 Server

Look out competition - this is where Acer’s going to pushing hardest ;-)

Massimo has now moved on to structural changes within the company.
Acer has split its European operations into two areas: mature markets and emerging markets. At the same time, the company has split its product divisions into two new business divisions. Professional and Consumer, meaning that product managers no longer have a broad market sweep spanning from home users to large enterprises.

THE EXTENSA’S BACK!
The Extensa makes a welcome return at the value end of the professional notebook segment that includes TravelMate, Veriton and Ferrari brands. Aspire (NB and PC) to be handled by consumer division.

There will no longer be business products (TravelMates) available in consumer channels and vice versa. Essentially, from now on, you’ll only find Aspires and consumer products in retail stores. For everything else, you’ll have to go to another channel (Acer Point). From the looks of things that also includes the premium Ferrari range too, but I’ll have to check on this.

What this also means (although no-one’s mentioned it) is that there’ll be a clear distinction between the Aspire and TravelMate lines, which at the moment overlap considerably, both in looks and features. Don’t know how or in what form, but it seems to me that if they have separated these two product lines into two distinct divisions and they are no longer to be sold through the same channels, they are going to be very, very different from each other sooner or later.

SERVICE
Now here’s something special. Acer Italy has invested 1 million Euros in a new site for service laboratory, designed to:

• Improve logistic flows
• Increase availability of spare parts
• Improve the quality of repairs
• Reduce repair cycle times

Acer has also invested in Customer Service and Support (CSS) software that measures cycle times, average repair times, max delays for repairs, average no. calls, call centre success rates etc..

This is great news as it’s more than likely to be (if it isn’t already) replicated across the entire European region and beyond.

Another novelty is that dealers are now to be included into the service flow. That means, rather than schlepping off to the Acer service centre, customers can now take their malfunctioning products back to where they bought it and these dealers will take care of sending, tracking and returning the damaged product. The dealers will then be remunerated directly from Acer for their trouble. Now that’s what I call a step in the right direction!

This program is due to be up and running by the end of March 2007.

Valentina Sodini
Valentina gets straight to the point, explaining Acer’s approach to its customer base and the products and solutions that derive from this relationship.

She’s describing Acer’s approach to its customer base. The way it focuses on end users, the market, the channel and its needs. Valentina’s doing a great job but apart from the new organizational structure, there’s no news here, except for the rising popularity and impact of online E-Tailers.

Q&A Time: Massimo confirmed that Vista will make no impact on the retail price of Acer’s products and went through the Vista upgrade process. This is handled directly through the moduslink website (details available on Acer’s press release).

There have been claims that this is a free service whereas in fact the company responsible for shipping the software is charging the users shipping costs (currently averaging at about 20 Euros).

OK that was a long day and this is an unusually long post but I wanted to share this side of the Acer experience with you. Tomorrow I’ll try and get some of the photos up.

Acer durability tests

2007-02-08T00:30:00.000+01:00

Another interesting video about the quality testing performed on Acer notebooks.

Durability testing is something rarely mentioned but these tests do play an extremely important part of the initial design brief of the product.

I'll write more on the subject shortly.

Upping the price or the quality of the range?

2007-02-07T21:40:00.000+01:00

The headline of an article over on RegHardware says that Acer is about to put up the prices of its notebooks (in the UK).

But if you read the article, you'll see that this isn't the case and a price rise is not in the plan. What the article does say is that Acer is "looking to get more SKUs (notebooks) on the shelves of its partners, at more price points", with 17 inch and 20 inch models available at the higher end of the spectrum.

Translated, this means Acer is going to offer a bigger, more feature-packed range through its channel partners this year and that may well push the average sales price up.

But far from giving its customers less for their money, this decision will put a greater number of premium models (higher spec and higher cost) onto the market and help Acer shed its budget image.

Upgrade your Empowering Technology

2007-02-07T16:13:00.000+01:00

During my usual rounds of what's out there concerning Acer, I came across this forum post where you can upgrade the Empowering Technology from version 1.0 to version 2.0. The guy who posted it did it successfully on his Aspire 5672.

There's even a video showing you how it looks (you might want to open it on the YouTube page and expand it to full screen as the quality isn't that good).

If any of you decide this is worth it (the upgrade links all point to Acer Support Site), let me know how you get on.

While I'm on the subject of upgrading, has anyone actually upgraded to Windows Vista on their Acer yet? If there's anyone out there that has I'd love to know how you got on and how easy/difficult it was.

Good news from Egypt

2007-02-06T17:29:00.000+01:00

There is something fascinating about news aggregators. Apart from consuming a HUGE amount of time, they give you access to stories you would otherwise never have access to. I use Newsgator, although I’m also getting into Del.icio.us which is another thing altogether.

This morning while looking through my Acer keyword search, I came across an fascinating story about Acer’s recent success in Egypt.

“Acer Computer Middle East and Mantrac have announced today that they will look to supply the lion's share of PCs earmarked for millions of homes across Egypt as part of its ‘PC for Every Home’ initiative”.

It’s not the sales story that interests me, more the initiative itself, which aims to make PCs affordable to most, if not all, sectors of the Egyptian population. The project talks of distributing 7 Million PCs over a period of 7 Years.

Obviously there are financial rewards for winning a public tender offer like this, in addition to marketing gains. But if Acer was given the highest rating after a “rigorous assessment” by the Egyptian Government, this is good news for everyone involved, none more so than those about to get online for the first time.

Acer and Barcelona team up

2007-02-06T13:31:00.000+01:00

Here's an interesting story for all you sports fans out there. I found it in the Sunday Times last week-end but only now have I been able to track it down online.

It’s not the easiest of sites to navigate and the link above may well take you to the home page but if you make it to the Business section and pull down the drop-down menu, you should find it there.

What’s the story??

Acer has entered into a multi-million pound sponsorship deal with FC Barcelona.

Similar to Acer’s Gold Partner sponsorship of F. C. Internazionale Milano – Inter, this deal will give Acer exclusive rights to pitch-side advertising at Barcelona’s Nou Camp stadium.

In the article, Gianpiero Morbello, Acer’s UK managing director, says that “the arrangements would be in place in time for Barcelona’s next Champions’ League match”.

This is aggressive brand placement. In the sports world, Acer’s got sponsorship deals with some of the world’s leading teams, including Ferrari, Inter (in Italian) and now Barcelona, not to mention Acer’s ties with Women's World Cup golfing tournament in South Africa and Acer's involvement in the Acer Girls Golf Program.

Sport is part of the Acer ethos. The competitive pursuit of maximum results has driven Acer from one success to another, and is just one of the reasons Acer is becoming so popular the world across.

However it’s not just sport that absorbs all of Acer’s sponsorship energy. “Building Bridges Between the High-Tech and Artistic Worlds” is the introduction you’ll find on the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre website, demonstrating that Acer’s sponsorship interests go beyond the most obvious, ROI-friendly choices. Acer was also Sponsor of the 2006 Tour in China of Milan’s world-famous La Scala theatre.

But this piece is about football. Football’s another story and Barça is on another level entirely. MÉS QUE UN CLUB!

One important addition to this post is that alongside several other charitable initiatives, FC Barcelona has made a commitment to Unicef’s humanitarian aid programs through the donation of one and a half million euros for the next five years. This is why the team players now wear the Unicef logo on their shirts.

Ferrari 1000 tablet?

2007-02-05T17:28:00.000+01:00

You remember recently there was that furor when Microsoft and Edelman (and AMD) teamed up and handed out something like 100 Acer Ferrari notebooks to some of the planet's top bloggers?

Well I've just come across a fascinating vlog posted by one of them, Hugo Ortega the guy behind Ubertablet.

Ever wanted to see the world's first Ferrari 1000 TABLET?

Check it out..

The real value of the Acer brand

2007-02-05T16:01:00.000+01:00

I have received a fascinating report on Brand Value.

It all started with an article in the Daily Mirror reporting that Acer was third on the list of companies that “used the most branding”.

Well that confused me so I headed off to the publishers of the report over at Brand Finance and downloaded the BrandFinance250 report, an extremely detailed and well-written annual report on “the world’s most valuable brands”.

Acer’s third place comes in quite a particular category, “Brand contribution to enterprise value”.

Essentially, this category ranks how much of a company’s value is determined by the brand itself. An interesting quote at the foot of the page says that the average brand value of the 250 companies considered in the list was 18%, indicating how strong the Acer brand is and ultimately how much its brand reputation plays in determining the value of the company.

Oddly enough, the Acer brand isn’t listed on the ‘Brand Strength Index’ of the same report, which suggests that while it plays a decisive role in determining the value of Acer, as a brand, it still has somewhere to go.

Of course that fits in with a recent declaration by Gianpiero Morbello, Acer UK’s managing director who, in last week’s Sunday Times declared: “We are not scared to say that we will be No.1 overall sooner or later”.

The only way is up?

Gridvista and other technologies

2007-02-05T14:44:00.000+01:00

A few months ago I posted an article about the various technologies used on Acer products.

I've noticed that Acer is now driving interest in this subject by dedicating a part of its corporate websites to these added-value technologies.

But if you want to see Gridvista in action, check out this advert.

Acer TravelMate C100 TV ad

2007-02-05T13:21:00.000+01:00

OK, so YouTube had a major setback last week thanks to Viacom's reluctance to allow Google's latest acquisition continue to stream its content.

But that doesn't mean it's lost its claim as one of the top places to find stuff that interests the likes of you and me.

I don't know where you're reading from but where I live, Acer doesn't air TV ads, so it was great to uncover this one for the TravelMate C100 tablet.

The thing I really like is the comment underneath the video (on the YouTube site). " Looks like it has a long bat life". Brilliant critique :-)

Shifting the focus of "benefits"

2007-02-05T12:52:00.000+01:00

Please forgive my foray into unchartered waters for a minute but I wanted to use this space to underline something I'd like all PC vendors to commit to more aggressively.

Greenpeace regularly publishes their Green Electronics Guide and you can see the updated one here.

I found the video below over on Drew Meyer's blog and it stopped me in my tracks.

This may sound prosaic, particularly coming from me, but if "solutions" has ousted "technology" as the driving force behind innovation, then isn't it time these same solutions provided more than just a personal benefit by actively contributing to the long-term prosperity of the people whose lives they were originally intended to serve?

Acer Ferraris pick up more awards

2007-02-02T13:58:00.000+01:00

While I'm on the subject of awards, I just read here that the Acer Ferrari 1000 and Ferrari 5000 "are winners of the 2006/7 Good Design Award accredited by the Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization. The Good Design Award is among the world’s most famous historical design awards, and since 1957, has served to identify excellent design products that promote the quality of life via the power of design."

Knowing how painstakingly thorough the Japanese are when it comes to aesthetics, this award is yet another recognition of the level of care and thought that went into these outstanding designs.

Trusted Review of the C510

2007-02-02T13:49:00.000+01:00

If you don't want to take my word for how good the C500 series is, the C510 got a score of 8/10 over on the Trusted Review site.

C500 series mixes functionaly, value and award-winning style

2007-02-01T21:29:00.000+01:00

Have you ever noticed the trend for PC magazines (and not only) to give out awards to the best-performing, highest-value, lowest-weighing products?

OK, “lowest-weighing product” might not be a real award but what difference does it make to you, the buying public?

I drive a Ford S-Max which, in case you haven't noticed, is Car of the Year. I know that didn't influence my decision one way or another but there again, it is comforting to know that what I think is a great car, is actually, at a global level, considered to be just that. I'm not crazy after all!

So when a notebook, digital camera or LCD monitor wins an award, on face value it might not seem like an important event, but the fact remains that in the hugely competitive world of IT, an award singles you out as delivering more quality, more performance or simply better value than the alternatives, and that small detail can make a very large difference in the fortunes of that product.

So it’s nice to see that the Acer c500 personal navigator series has won a coveted iF Design Award. The iF (International Forum) design award was established 53 years ago, making it one of the world’s most celebrated design authorities.

If the design is first class, the C500 is hardly lacking spec-wise with its 2.8" QVGA screen, Samsung S3C2442 processor at 300Mhz, 64MB RAM, 128MB ROM, Bluetooth, WiFi (on certain models), GPS and a SDIO slot.

Considering all it offers, the top-of-the-range, WiFi-equipped Acer 530 isn't even all that expensive.

All change at Dell could help the rest of us

2007-02-01T20:59:00.000+01:00

There have been some pretty unsavoury reports over the departure of Kevin Rollins from Dell. A typical article, like this one over on Yahoo! News, focuses more on the recent "fall from grace" of Dell than on any strategic decision or personal motivations for the change, almost attributing the entire blame for Dell’s less-than-first-class results to Mr. Rollins.

Over on Dell’s blog, the tone is much more low-key with Michael Dell giving a quick, 16-second video comment on his new role.

Whilst I’m no financial expert and far be it from me to pass judgement on this decision, the Yahoo! article above underlines just how savagely unhealthy the IT sector is as a whole, and I’m sure Michael Dell’s reappearance will help revitalize both Dell’s fortunes and reinvigorate the market for all of us.

I wish him the best of luck.

Marcoms magic

2007-01-31T11:46:00.000+01:00

It's been a great week so far.

Monday I got to meet most of the EMEA marcoms managers. Some new faces and some I have already had the pleasure of meeting before.

So before I go any further, a big thank-you to the people from Benelux, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, UK, France, Italy, and South Africa who made the trip. It was also great to meet the ever-affable Philip again, who's in charge of the MEA region. How that man manages such a vast territory with its many cultural, language and logistic challenges is simply beyond me.

It was fascinating to see the peculiarities of the individual countries discussed within the broader context of a single regional division. The differences in cultures, markets, public opinions and user needs are what makes this job so fascinating.

It was also great to see just how much local news escapes the bigger picture. For example, I had no idea that Acer was the official sponsor of the Women's World Cup golfing tournament in South Africa. Nor that a spin-off of this is Acer's involvement in the Acer Girls Golf Program - a development program for young aspiring players from disadvantaged backgrounds.

I think that beyond the obvious interest in corporate sponsorship, social causes of this nature are always worthy of note, no matter where they originate from and it is something I'd like to cover more in this blog.

Tuesday was action time. Online activities, media planning and, why not, even blog matters.

So rather than being a quiet period, it's all systems go here at Acer. And with the help of people like those I met on Monday, it's going to be yet another great year.

TheAcerGuy website update and Wordpress news

2007-01-29T07:07:00.000+01:00

Just a quick update on The Acer Guy website.

The domain's registered (www.theacerguy.com), but I decided to switch to Dreamhost and this will slow down the launch as I can't transfer the name until 60 days from registry.

The site's coming together. I'm doing quite a lot of SEO work on it to make sure it gets a read and also quite a lot of research into the actual content. There may also be videos and perhaps even a "How to... " page at some future date. The only thing that lets it down is the overall design so I might get it covered with some professionally-designed CSS at a later date. It's all practice anyway.

I also trying to find an RSS reader to embed into the home page, with independent Acer news, and that's proving tricky for someone with my level of knowledge... Any suggestions?

The move to Dreamhost also means that The Acer Guy blog will soon move over to Wordpress. I like Blogger but need the kind of functionality offered by Wordpress. As it stands, you can't import blogs from the New Blogger directly so I'm going to have to do that manually too so I don't lose anything.

All in all, we're a couple of months away from launch (he says, crossing his fingers)...

Acer shines in Manila...

2007-01-29T06:56:00.000+01:00

Well, it's not just roses in EMEA. Looks like Acer is putting on quite a show in the Philippines too. Thanks Richard for the heads up ;-)

Interesting to see the way different journalists describe how Acer clawed its way up the rankings ... also like the quick summary of Acer's history.

Budget or Dependable?

2007-01-26T19:51:00.000+01:00

There is an interesting article over on BusinessWeek called Acer's Hot New Designs. Lots of high-res pictures and quotes from senior management.

I particularly like the quote "The Taiwanese PC maker is ... releasing new designs to give its budget image a tune-up".

Talk about unsung heroes. Have these people heard about Empowering Technology, seen a list of the proprietary technology installed across the product range or even held a Ferrari 1000 in their hands and felt the exquisite solidity of the case? There is nothing budget about any of this.

My Acer notebooks have seen me through serious battles and have never failed (even when I accidentally blew one up I managed to recover the hard disk contents). Budget? The correct word is Dependable.

No AcerGuy till Friday

2007-01-23T01:06:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow morning (today at this point in time) I'll be getting on a plane to spend three days in storm-battered UK.

I'm going to do what everyone connected 24/7 should every once and a while. Switch off.

That's right, no PC for three days. It's like going without cigarettes when you're on 2 packs a day, or without seeing your children... the withdrawal symptoms are already showing as I'm actually writing about it.

Still, it'll give me time to think about the future of TheAcerGuy, the site and, more urgently, the blogging platform (I want to change over to WordPress and give it a real domain).

I like WordPress as it'll also give me the chance to add categories as there is as much theory (PR involvement in corporate blogging) as there is business practice (4Q results show Acer catching up on Lenovo). And I thought it was just going to be about notebooks...

Acer accused of being an 800 pound gorilla - and it's great!

2007-01-20T04:46:00.000+01:00

As I wrote a few days ago, Acer put in an amazing performance last year, conceding third place to Lenovo but making up so much ground overall, it's getting noticed (and not just for its Ferraris!).

So much so, that in an article over on the Inquirer, HP and Dell have been advised to look in their rear-view mirrors for Acer, an 800-pound gorilla that increased sales by 37.1 percent for the whole of 2006, according to Gartner numbers for Q4.

The same article also suggests that Acer is looking to tie up with US retail giant Best Buy to sell notebooks from February which could generate a 100 percent rise in US sales.

I wonder where we'll be this time next year?

Spicing up the Blu-ray/HD-DVD debate

2007-01-19T13:37:00.000+01:00

They say that you can tell the state of the economy by watching the performance of paper producers. The better the economic climate the greater their profits as more companies ride the economic wave by spending on advertising...

One of the more curious twists to this year's CES was the indicator used to settle the score over the modern-day VHS Vs. Betamax battle, Blu-ray or HD-DVD.

Across the way from the CES in Las Vegas this year, the adult entertainment industry held its annual bash, and the film producers had no doubts over their chosen format.

Not your usual benchmark by any means but one that could well send shivers (more like secretive winks) throughout the entire IT business for years to come.

And, unsurprisingly, it all boils down to cost.

"Blu-ray has superior quality, yes, but HD DVD is easier to produce, cheaper to produce and there are more HD DVD players in homes than there are Blu-ray players, for example in the Xbox 360," said one representative.

Others complained that Blu-ray discs cannot be multiplied on low cost machines and, as a result, the costs of large scale Blu-Ray disks manufacturing cancels any form of profit. Other small brands also stated: "Only bigger studios can afford Blu-ray, and even then it's not economical.”

So, HD-DVD just got the thumbs up from one of the largest-growing digital entertainment industries. Still not convinced? According to PricewaterhouseCoopers', the Global Entertainment and Media industry is set to generate $1.8 TRILLION by 2010.

I know I’d settle on the easiest format, not that I’m at all interested of course.

Breathing down their necks...

2007-01-18T15:09:00.000+01:00

Well it looks like I got my answer.

According to IDC, the top five PC vendors by worldwide market share in the fourth quarter 2006 were HP (18.1 percent), Dell (14.7 percent), Lenovo Group (7.3 percent), Acer (7.1 percent), and Toshiba (3.7 percent).

Individually, again according to IDC:

HP built on its third quarter momentum, boosting year-on-year growth to nearly 24% (the fastest for HP since 2000) and taking a clear lead in worldwide shipment volume for the quarter. Growth in the United States rebounded to near 16% from a dip to single digits in the third quarter, while international growth surged above 28% with a strong showing in EMEA.

Dell was unable to recover from a slow third quarter and stumbled through the end of the year. Shipments to the U.S. market, which continue to represent over 50% of Dell volume, were down nearly 17% year on year following a single-digit decline in Q3. In addition, international growth, which was reasonably stable in the third quarter, fell to just 1.5% in 4Q06 with notably slower growth in all regions. Dell's focus on profitability over share is coming right at a time of aggressive competition from companies such as HP, Acer, and Apple, and is compounded by a slow commercial market. As a result, Dell is in the unusual circumstance of seeing volume decline sequentially from the third quarter in both the United States and worldwide.

Lenovo continues to benefit from its leadership position in Asia/Pacific, while struggling for traction in other regions. The company continues to gain share in APeJ, which accounts for nearly 60% of volume, while shipments declined in the United States and Japan, and modest volume gains in other regions were not enough to preserve share.

Acer had another solid quarter with strong gains in all regions. EMEA represents roughly 70% of Acer's worldwide shipments, and grew by nearly 37% in the fourth quarter, but expansion in the United States and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) also contributed to the company's gains.

Toshiba's focus on portable PCs continues to give the company an edge in overall growth. Worldwide shipments were up more than 17% in the fourth quarter, with an increase of more than 14% in the United States. Although growth was slower than last quarter, and closer to market rates for portable PC shipments, Toshiba continues to gain share in total shipments and benefits from the higher margins for portable PCs.

Overall, we're going to have to concede defeat to Lenovo, but if you look closely, we're catching up. Fast.

Windows Experience Index - a reference we could all use??

2007-01-18T14:10:00.000+01:00

I recently saw a post by Mauricio Freitas regarding the Windows Experience Index for his Ferrari 5000 (4.9).

I followed that Wikipedia link to find out more on the WEI and from there found another, very interesting site where users can upload their own scores or singular scores per component (the Windows System Assessment Tool (WinSAT) analyses all hardware components and your overall system score is determined by the lowest individual result).

This got me thinking:

Wouldn't it be great if hardware manufacturers used this as a performance benchmark for their products? At least we'd all have a common frame of reference...

Acer Vs. Lenovo

2007-01-18T13:59:00.000+01:00

There's an interesting article by Bruce Einhorn over on Business Week about the battle between Acer and Lenovo to claim the title of "the leading computer company out of Greater China".

It's interesting to see the many parallels between these two IT rivals, and Bruce does a great job of getting straight to the point.

Just like in Formula 1, often the most interesting battles aren't for the lead (I know who's side I'm on).

Swicki results

2007-01-17T12:03:00.000+01:00

While TheAcerGuy isn't exactly ranking well on whatever search engine you use, it does attract some visitors.

And those visitors seem to be using the Swicki that's been sitting there on the right since November to find out more information on Acer.

I thought I'd post the results so far as they provide a curious insight into what's hot (important) and what's not.

Acer support - 36
Acer laptop - 29
Asus Lamborghini - 25
Acer notebook - 23
Acer Travelmate 270 - 18
Gianfranco Lanci - 15
Acer Ferrari - 14
Acer USA - 14
Empowering Technology... - 14
HP PDA - 14
Acer review - 13
Fingerprint recognition... - 13
Acer PDA - 12
Acer computer - 11
Acer deals - 11
Acer mobile solutions... - 9
acer n music matc - 9
Trusted Platform Module... - 9
Acer PC - 8
Acer notebook cpu upgrade... - 3
Acer USA warranty - 2
internet explorer 7 - 1
orbicam spec - 1
travelmate 8200 - 1
Acer - 0
acer c500 pocket pc trave...- 0

As expected, support is top of the agenda. Given the heat some other manufacturers have been taking over their customer support, this is not at all surprising.

Interesting to see the Asus Lamborghini up there above the Ferraris (who'd have thought?) along with HP's PDAs that also feature for some reason which means that Acer's are obviously well worth a look.

One curious one (for me at any rate) is the interest in Internet Explorer 7. I have a hunch this has to do with the ActiveX issue but who knows what you guys are looking for??

Acer releases LunchApp ActiveX vulnerability patch

2007-01-11T18:02:00.000+01:00

Well 2007 got off to a bit of a bumpy start, didn’t it?

First the Ferrari storm and now a security flaw. I can understand how the Ferrari thing didn’t go down too well but the response to this security flaw was astounding. I mean, check out this post. Talk about tough love…

Acer has just released a Press Release about the issue and, more importantly, a patch.

After a bit of research, it turns out that this application is part of the bundled software suite that comes with every Acer computer. Ironically, it seems it was originally designed as a technology facilitator. Ahh the best-laid plans…

I’m copying a description of the application I found on the discussion forums over at Broadband Reports.com

lmanager.exe is a process associated with Acer Launch Manager from Dritek System Inc.."LaunchBoard software from Darwin turns your keyboard into a remote control for the Internet and your computer! With LaunchBoard 2.0, you can customize up to 38 keys on your PC keyboard to instantly launch Web Sites, start applications, perform custom macros, handle Windows shortcuts, store passwords, and perform loads of other customizable functions" U LaunchApp Alaunch.exe Acer Launch tool utility on laptops U LaunchAp LaunchAp.exe Part of Acer Launch Manager - programmable keys on such laptops as the TravelMate 610 Author: Dritek System Inc.Part Of: Acer Launch ManagerLManager.exe file informationThe process Acer Launch Manager Keyboard Application belongs to the software Acer Launch Manager by Dritek System Inc (www.dritek.com.tw).

So what have we got? A simple bundled program designed to give users even greater control over their hardware that in time (9 years is a long time in my book), became something vulnerable to malicious attacks.

Doesn’t the same description tell the story of a LOT of software programs out there? That’s why most of us install upgrades and security patches and some even switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox, isn’t it?

So, back to the problem. Judging by the contents of the press release, Acer introduced this patch into its OEM manufacturing process on 4th December. What that means is that all computers built by Acer’s suppliers after that date will not be affected by the flaw.

Then, following standard procedures, it was passed on to the global service team and finally to the public.

My advice? Download it and feel better about your PC.

Bill Gates on the future of Microsoft

2007-01-08T18:36:00.000+01:00

Fascinating "informal" video of with Bill Gates speaking at CES on the future of Microsoft, online applications, gaming and the IT world at large.

I've never seen him so relaxed!

Debate on Corporate Blogs

2007-01-05T10:26:00.000+01:00

I always wanted this blog to stay away from corporate issues but every now and then something blips on the radar that can’t be ignored. Bear with me for a minute.

If anyone has been watching, there have been some healthy (for want of a better word) exchanges of opinions going on between several key IT players over the past few weeks.

First HP used a favourable article on ZDNet to have a go at IBM and Dell on Eric Klintz’s Marketing Excellence blog. Lionel from Dell responds on the same thread but the argument dies.

Chris from MWW Group (PRs to Amazon.com among others) tracks back to this on their Open the Dialogue” blog and uses it as a healthy example of what blogging is all about – real people debating real issues head to head, without PR interference.

The thing is none of this “wanton sincerity” is true at all.

First of all, simply by debating on HP’s MARKETING EXCELLENCE blog, means that all sincerity flies straight out the window (remember, All Marketers are Liars, says Seth Godin).

Then I replied to Chris with a post just before Christmas about how difficult (artificial) it is to compare independent professional blogs to corporate ones. My post wasn’t published. True I’m a little guy, but the “Openness” of MWW Groups “Dialogue” is now in doubt.

Want to see a really open debate? One with real people arguing about real issues? Then read the vehemence over at Scoble’s blog following his dig at Apple after his son’s Mac Book Pro had problems, complaining that despite Apple’s poor service and Dell’s openness, the former gets good press while the latter suffers from the opposite.

The comments are what Scoble himself in his book Naked Conversations defined as “Tough Love”.

On corporate blogs it’s a different story and Klintz’s refusal to take the argument with Lionel any further is a clear demonstration of this.

True, a blog must by definition be open and personal, but surely not to the point where a company of the caliber of HP filters the replies it posts (read Lionel’s reply) and places a legal disclaimer at the foot of each page which reads:

“Opinions expressed here and in any corresponding comments are the personal opinions of the original authors, not of HP and may not have been reviewed in advance by HP.”

In this case, there is a certain inconsistency in what employees are saying about their companies, and how these same companies wish to be represented.

If you’re truly sincere, why not, as Dell has rightly done, stand by your comments and do without the disclaimer? At least that way you bind the underlying truth of your words to the principles, values and goals of the company you (directly or indirectly) represent.

And that’s where an intelligent marketing department enters the equation.

As I mentioned in my unpublished post, “I think that only the foolish would seriously believe that behind the apparent liberty with which Dell, HP and Lenovo people blog, marketing didn’t have a hand in establishing the general guidelines and best practices to be implemented.”

Look closely and you don’t find debate on corporate blogs. Discussion yes, and even some serious “link appreciation”, but not debate.

Investor relations, client loyalty and sheer common sense dictates that corporations of this scale will continue to foster brand awareness with the same care and attention they have devotedly applied since conception.

Blogging gives them another channel, it’s true. A more open channel for sure (with (unfiltered?) feedback to boot!), but a channel all the same.

And that’s how it should be.

Edelman stirs up a Vista storm with Acer Ferraris

2006-12-29T13:50:00.000+01:00

There are times when being an innocent bystander is a magical thing.

I got word of Edelman's latest through Scoble and I personally think he's right about the ethics.

Still, hearing positive comments like Scott Beale's about the Acer Ferrari 1000 and Ferrari 5000s "given" to some of the world's leading bloggers by Microsoft in collaboration with AMD to promote Vista really made me chuckle.

Brilliant move I say. But then I would, wouldn't I?

Update 1: For the record, Acer's PR team here in EMEA new nothing of this. I wish we had - I'd never have passed an opportunity like this to push the Ferraris.

Update 2: I think MS has a soft spot for Acer when it comes to big launches. When Bill Gates launched Windows XP Tablet edition back in 2002, he used an Acer C100 to do it.

I'm not dead. Buried (in work) but not dead.

2006-12-22T18:08:00.000+01:00

Just a parting shot from the AcerGuy to dispell rumours that I have given up the chase.

If anything, it's only just begun.

First thing first, theAcerGuy site is well on its way to completion. It's taken me forever to build in all the pages I want and need to fill, but now that's almost complete it's really looking good. Got the domain name secured too.

I'm also looking at structuring the site so that each product series (TravelMate, Aspire, PDAs etc) as well as topical area (people, history, technology) get the google attention they deserve. Don't know about you but I'm a little tired of having to wade through three pages of sales offers BEFORE I get to real Acer information.

And then there's video. With a bit of luck Santa will bring me a decent video camera so I can start filming the reviews/articles too.

And what else? Emm.. let's just say that 2007 could bode well for corporate blog lovers. Fingers crossed, eh? Everyone else has a voice, I don't see why mine should be the only one my end, do you?

Who on earth is Stan Shih??

2006-11-27T18:14:00.000+01:00

As I continue to discover new corners of Acer, it's becoming increasingly clear that this is a company with its own, personal history.

It's thirty years old, so it's hardly new-school. In fact, in PC manufacture seniority terms, it's damned near royalty!

Yet where did it come from?

Well, up until he retired in 2004, the man behind Acer was Stan Shih, noted as one of Time magazine's Asian heroes.

Stan built the entire group around a set of values that, in this fast-moving world of ROI, business models and cut-throat margins, seems to have gone missing...

I finally got my hands on Stan Shih's book, Me Too is Not My Style and would like to dedicate a small portion of this blog to the grocer-store owner's son who gave birth to a group destined to become the world's fourth-largest PC vendor.

I want to do this as a reminder to anyone reading that Acer does indeed have core values. It's not just about the bottom line.

While I'm at it, it might also serve as a "gentle" reminder to any detractors that Acer's continued success come from putting these core values into practice, day in and day out.

After all, if you believe in a company, its values, products and services, what better way than sharing the hopes and fears of its founding fathers to discover whether your heart is in the right place?

The flipside of Tablet technology

2006-11-22T11:35:00.000+01:00

Here’s a great one for conspiracy theorists.

I got sent a link yesterday (thanks Richard) to an interesting article on Engadget that illustrates a law case brought against Acer and other Tablet PC manufacturers.

The gist of it is that just as the Tablet has reached the end of its life (see my post yesterday), a man in Oregon has decided to sue Acer, Gateway, Toshiba, HP, IBM, and Fujitsu for violating his 1996 patent "Hinge Assembly for Electronic Devices".

The strange thing is that this same man appears to have some dodgy friends … Read the link in the responses section to find out who…

2007 all set to be a tipping point for mobility

2006-11-21T14:03:00.000+01:00

Next month’s PC Pro is a killer.

I’ve been a subscriber for quite a while now but never has the contents of this magazine filled my curiosity for future technologies like the January 2007 edition.

More than anything else, it’s pretty clear that with so many emerging technologies expected in the not-too-distant future, traditional mobile solutions are about to get a total overhaul.

With rumours rife that Dell is about to launch a Tablet PC, any observant reader would surely read between the lines of next month’s edition to see that this isn’t going to happen, or if it does, it’s probably a last-ditched effort to revive a dwindling niche.

Even Acer’s Jim Wong made it clear at the company’s recent 30th anniversary celebrations that the Tablet’s time is gone, going on to add that “the device we’re dreaming about… is single purpose and so simple to use.”

Although Windows Vista is toted by Microsoft themselves as a sure fire way to Improve Your Tablet PC Experience, it is surely going to face fierce competition from Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPC). This is where I see Acer making serious headway in 2007 onwards and where Dell is more likely to enter.

Why am I so sure? Because modern technology is an amalgam of disparate components, whether from different hardware manufacturers or between hardware and software vendors. Standalone technologies simply do not exist. The Tablet PC is a perfect example, as it would not have seen the light of day if Bill Gates himself hadn’t endorsed it.

With mobile technology, that complimentary technology is already in place. We’ve got ultramobile notebooks already on the shelves. These units feature multi-core processors and power efficient component that keep battery life up while offering true multi-tasking ability.

We’ve also got touch screens built into Tablets PCs, PDAs and in-car navigators, wired and wireless technologies and ultra-bright screens ready to deliver high definition content so there’s nothing startlingly new here.

What’s missing is affordable wireless broadband reception.

In September 2006 at the Acer Global Press Conference in Monte Carlo, Steve Brazier from Canalys piled into telephone network providers, blaming them exclusively for the slow uptake of mobile media.

Anyone who’s paid over £200 (€300) just to download emails at 56Kbps like I regularly do when I travel will agree.

But Barry Collins, news editor at PC Pro, took the argument further. In his News opinion column he actually puts the problem into numbers:

Even if you do track your mobile downloads to the last byte, keeping tabs on the bill is a headache. Take Vodafone for instance, Surfing web pages on its Vodafone Live service is gratis; stray beyond the portal's walls and you're looking at £2.35 (€3,47) per MB on its typical Anytime 150 price plan. Move to a pay-as-you-talk plan and Vodafone Live is charged at 0.1p (€0,15) per KB and 0.73p (€1) per KB off-portal. Not only has Vodafone changed the prices, it's changed the units of data measurement, just to make your brain ache and disguise the fact that those prices now equate to a staggering £1 (€1,48) per MB/£7.30 (€10,80) per MB respectively. To put this into perspective, the average fixed line broadband account offers 20GB of data downloads for around £20 (€29,56) a month. Vodafone's most expensive tariff would cost £146,000 (€215.753) a month for the same amount of data.

£146,000 a month? I know it’s hypothetical but how long is the (heavily) paying public going to let them get away with this?

So when 3G launches a flat-rate service with its X-Series, the others will surely have to follow, sending us over the tipping point that signals the end of mobility as we know it.

If connection prices plummet, there will then be no stopping to what PC vendors can and will be able to offer as the demand will simply be exponential.

And that’s where convergency takes another step forward. PDA’s will grow and notebooks will shrink and merge into UMPCs, with Bluetooth connectivity for VoIP headsets and built-in VVoIP cameras etc. These will be online the moment they are switched on, offering PC processing power with web-based telephone communication functionality.

Then there are the smart or hybrid phones which are just the opposite. Always-on communication/entertainment devices with miniaturised PC functionality and endless streaming media sources.

In any case, Wong’s right. The Tablet PC as we know it is dead. The UMPC will see to that.

And if Google’s vision for its Google Apps Enterprise Edition comes true – and frankly there’s no reason why it wouldn’t – maybe even Microsoft’s vice-like grip on the software industry is about to shift, with UMPCs accessing online applications and storage servers straight out the box.

Here’s to a fascinating 2007!

Gettin' Swicki Wit It

2006-11-20T00:10:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd liven things up with a Swicki.

That's right. A Swicki. To start with it's that funny looking thing with images and red text over on the right.

A Swicki, according to its developers, is "a new kind of search engine that allows anyone to create deep, focused searches on topics you care about. Unlike other search engines, you and your community have total control over the results and it uses the wisdom of crowds to improve search results."

Essentially it should show what people are actually looking for when it comes to Acer.

Obviously it's in its early stages and I still have to fine tune it, but it will be curious to see how this develops. Whatever the results, you'll be the first to know.

Goodbye Ferrari, Hello TravelMate 6460

2006-11-14T20:18:00.000+01:00

Today I handed the Ferrari 1000 back.

It's weird that something I write about day in day out had such a profound effect on me that bordered on the emotional.

Weird but true. I liked it so much I'm going to buy myself one.

But today, I’m moving on to other less ‘emotionally charged’ issues. As I write, the Acer UK site displays no fewer than 29 different notebooks, ranging from simple entry level devices to full spec multimedia stations. In Italy that number is 26 while in the US, there are a staggering 41.

It’s clear that each country selects its own models depending on specific market needs and with specific users in mind, which goes some way towards explaining why Acer split its site into user groups, and just how much this has helped users identify the right model for their unique needs.

One of the groups that gets less media attention than most is “Enterprises”, and one of the reasons for this is because "Acer offers a complete range of cost-effective enterprise solutions for trouble-free integration into current network structures, delivering world-class manageability, dependable security, effortless scalability and efficient mobility”.

Hardly mainstream blog material then.

Yet despite not enjoying too much blog atention (no Ferraris here), there is still plenty of room for innovation. One of the latest to ne introduced is Acer's Trusted Platform Module or TPM for short.

Of the many problems faced by large companies, security must rank among the top five. TPM is meant to assist security through an integrated chip that stores keys, passwords and digital certificates directly on the notebook enabling strong user authentication and machine security. In other words, it offers a sure-fire way of validating the true identity of the notebook.

It's a complex issue, and one not helped by the privacy issues raised in this detailed explanation of the technology over on the Wikipedia site.

This time I have brought home a TravelMate 6460 to play around with. The specs are what you'd expect from a business machine of this calibre (2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 15.4" WSXGA display, ATI Mobility Radeon X1300, 1GB DDR2 memory, 80GB hard drive etc.) so I don’t expect to unearth anything unexpected there.

No, the reason why I have it is to find out a little more about the Acer TPM features, and test the fingerprint recognition software. That might take a while, as I first want to come to terms with the security and privacy issues discussed in the Wikipedia entry, then I have to see what, if any solutions are offered by other notebook manufacturers, and finally test drive those installed on the TravelMate 6460.

Before I go, I’d just like to mention one thing that's already captured my attention. The TravelMate 6460 is battleship grey. It’s a no mess, no frills mobile work station and boy is it efficient. Now I already know that Acer’s SignalUp technology is good but the TM6460 takes it to another level altogether. Within one minute of turning it on to charge the battery, the TM6460 had sniffed out no fewer than three wireless networks in and around my home.

No other notebook I've come across so far has had such a finely-tuned wireless nose. It's good to know that Acer delivers the very best mobile solutions right across the board.

Ferrari 1000 Shines on TheAcerGuy

2006-11-13T21:15:00.000+01:00

Don’t believe the hype.

If ever there was a phrase that sums up the fear, uncertainty and doubt surrounding marketing campaigns for cult objects, this is undoubtedly it.

Hype is what gets brands noticed and, if they’re not careful, it’s where they fall. There’s no getting away from it. You’ve either got it or you don’t.

The Ferrari name has got it. In fact I’m not sure how many brand names evoke so much passion (love, envy, call it what you will) and at the same time elicit so much expectation. A Ferrari is the end of the rainbow, right? An exotic dream whose sole purpose is to transport its lucky owner into an almost surreal reality.

A bit more down to earth, maybe, but the Acer Ferrari 1000 has got it too. Anyone who’s read my earlier posts in this blog will have noticed that I’ve picked up on some negative sentiment here and there towards this stunning little ultraportable. Doubts over its coolness, and whether the outboard DVD can mess up your life continue to surface, and I wanted to find out for myself whether or not they were valid concerns.

So I borrowed one for the week-end.

First things first. The Ferrari 1000 is gorgeous. The moment you open the box, you know this isn’t your run-of-the-mill notebook. The thought and care that has gone into the details is on an entirely different level here.

Details like dedicated cases for each of the external components. They’re well designed, well made and look stunning. In fact, I wouldn’t feel at all ashamed at pulling the Ferrari 1000 out of my briefcase at a meeting.

And before you even begin to talk about the big, black, masculine Ferrari badge, both my 10-year old daughter and my tech-loathing wife loved it too, so I guess that sets that record straight.

While we’re on the subject, we had some friends over for dinner on Saturday. The Ferrari 1000 was sitting on the table in the living room and one by one, each of our guests commented on how cute/cool/fabulous it was.

Fact 1: this PC attracts attention like no other I’ve ever had.

Fact 2: it’s seriously cool – no matter what cynics may tell you.

So what about all the technical side of things? Hey, I’ll leave the performance ratings comparisons to those that actually care. For me, the Ferrari 1000 has just about everything I’d want from a second PC. I say second because, just like its automotive namesake, you really wouldn’t want to use it as your only means because its unique compactness is a little uncomfortable if you need to sit in front of it day in day out, even if it is a nice place to be.

Don’t get me wrong, the CrystalBrite screen is almost easier to look at than my 24” desktop monitor and the keyboard is a joy to use. But 12 inches of screen is, well, half of what I’m used to. Great for brief use, a bit of a strain if you overdo it.

Having said that, the Ferrari 1000’s got a port replicator port at back, meaning you can use it with a bigger monitor and standard keyboard while in the office, yet still enjoy all the benefits (and there are hundreds) of its seriously compact, lightweight design when you leave. In that sense it’s an ideal combination.

I’ve also noticed that the battery duration has been questioned. Well for starters the Ferrari 1000 comes with two batteries (three and six cells – neither made by Sony) and pressing the Empowering Key brings up an easy-to-use menu that allows me to switch from maximum performance to maximum battery life – which, incidentally, was 3 hours and 53 minutes – in just three clicks. If that's not enough, you can pull out the 6 Cell battery and slip in the 3 Cell one for an indicated 1 hour 39 minutes of extra ultraportable freedom. That’s 5 and-a-half hours - more than enough for me.

All in all, the Ferrari 1000 ticked all my boxes. I personally have never handled such a well-built laptop. No creaks, beautifully solid keyboard, and a joy to use. When you’re used to 15”+ screens pressing down on your thighs (this is my "old" TravelMate 4670 for a size comparison - it weighs almost double too and generates twice as much heat), having this lightweight gem resting almost imperceptibly on your lap is a revelation.

As I write, I’m doing a home study course on SEO techniques. It’s DVD-based with lots (hundreds) of videos to get through. On Friday and Sunday I used the Ferrari 1000 and sat through about 3 hours of videos each night with no trouble whatsoever. Once it had sniffed out my wireless network, flicking back and forth between the Flash presentation screen and the web to check on real-life examples was child’s play. I could have done it all night. Well actually I did.

It’s got 3 USB’s, a built-in 4-in-one card reader, integrated webcam and the brilliant Bluetooth handsfree VoIP phone (Skype users rejoice), and enough storage and processing power to handle everything you could possibly throw at it. Objectively, it’s really hard to find anything to criticize, except perhaps the fact that tomorrow I have to give it back.

Well, even that has a solution doesn’t it?

Irresistible

2006-11-10T17:25:00.000+01:00

I know I said I would write in a few days but first impressions count right?

Admittedly I haven’t lived with the Ferrari 1000 for any length of time yet but straight away I know I could. It’s gorgeous. The design is superb, and it’s sooo damned light.

Seeing as the problem lies in this external DVD player, the very first thing I did once I got it powered up was watch a DVD video and admittedly I wasn’t on a plane, but I see no immediate problems with having the thing outside, although I concede that it doesn’t give you the peace of mind you get from knowing that on that one-in-a-million occasion when you actually need a built-in DVD while on the go it’s there.

Still, for everyday mobile use, this thing is amazing. Packaging is on a level with Apple’s iPod, it doesn’t creak or flex like my “old” TravelMate 4674 does (admittedly after serious abuse) and it’s got that über-cool VoIP bluetooth phone gizmo I can’t stop raving about. Can’t wait to try that out on a few unsuspecting relatives.

So this is a teaser I guess. At least till I get round to writing something more, emm, professional.

PS The Leftfield CD was put there to give you an idea of size, not to express my musical tastes…

We're gonna need a bigger site - part 2

2006-11-10T16:49:00.000+01:00

I’ve slept on it and have decided that The AcerGuy needs a bigger home.

I want to be able to explore everything about Acer, its products, strategies and beliefs but on a more permanent level, then discuss what I find here, where conversation is free to flow.

For example I have persuaded them to lend me a Ferrari 1000 for a while. I have already posted here about the unfavourable review it got over at ShinyShiny (its got a Ferrari badge) and the fact that many preferred other ultraportables because the Ferrari 1000 had an external DVD.

Now you can’t please all the people all the time fair enough but I wanted to find out for myself just what, if any, drawbacks there are to having an external DVD and whether the Ferrari badge really does cramp your style (unlikely in my case).

The problem is at the end of the month this review, along with the others, will be archived away; unceremoniously placed in the folders on the right whose sole purpose is to show how long I managed to stick it out in Web 2.0.

These reviews – any reviews for that matter – deserve a more permanent home. Somewhere they can be used as open references. Then we can discuss.

Hey, I’m a marketing guy. What do I know about web design…? For now I’ll have to make do with (and learn more about) this format. With a bit of luck though, what I write will be interesting enough to stand the test of time.

We're gonna need a bigger site.

2006-11-08T23:40:00.000+01:00

In my brief time at TheAcerGuy ;-) I have discovered that there are many things about Acer - it's massive array of products, the constantly evolving technologies, the innovative solutions and, well, the general direction of the company itself that simply never see the light of day.

Some might argue it's the job of the middlemen to do the talking.

I say they've got more than enough on their plates already.

I have come to the conclusion that a blog is never going to be enough to satisfy this kamikaze desire to get a fuller message across. This is definitely the place for argument, discussion and discovery, but the fact that a blog is at times as fast as a Ferrari 5000 makes it an unsuitable frame for the bigger picture.

Think about it, today the buzz is all about Empowering Technology, tomorrow it's Vista upgrades. We can talk about it to our heart's content, yet while conversations inevitably move on, values do not.

I can see the need to take this a step further. Videos, reviews, articles, perhaps even a user forum. Oddly enough to many that might look like a step back. I mean, blogs are the thing right?

Well yes, and no.

Like I said, this is the place for news, views and opinions, but it's not the ideal playing field for product reviews, technology analysis and long-term brand values. After all, at the end of each month they're archived (by date) under a hyperlinked rock which is almost never unturned.

A blog works better if it has a solid base to work from, allowing it to draw attention to something a little more permanent and create discussion from it.

So the journey takes it's first twist. Anyone know a good web designer?

Entertainment Overkill

2006-11-04T16:43:00.000+01:00

Talk about massive.

I saw this at the Monaco Press Conference and it is a seriously-enormous piece of equipment. Massive in scale and massive in spec, and now there's the Core 2 Duo version (9810) it packs an even bigger punch.

I've read several sites saying it's a notebook strapped onto one of Acer's 20" screens and that's not too far away from the truth.

Before I go into (a little) detail, there seems to be a common perception of this multimedia giant as a desktop replacement, while Acer has gone its own way, putting it squarely in the Home Entertainment camp.

First let's clear this up. Acer has split its not inconsiderable range of notebooks into four functional groups:

1. Desktop Replacement - for corporate & medium-sized companies who need to replace their networked/managed corporate desktops with stylish, compact and reliable all-in-one notebooks that offer all the power, security and flexibility of a desktop PC, while providing maximum productivity, enhanced manageability and complete connectivity. The corporate user has different mobility needs, so this group includes normal notebooks, ultra-portables with docking ability and Tablet PCs.

2. Mobility at work - for corporate & medium-sized companies who need powerful and efficient mobile solutions that comply to company rules and management standards. They have different mobility needs, so this group includes both normal notebooks and ultra-portables. This group also includes a sub segment for tablet users, who need mobility and versatility.

3. Small Office Home Office solutions - for users who typically use their notebook both professionally and privately. Consequently, these solutions support professional work as well as entertainment, featuring both professional connectivity and solid audio/video functionalities.

4. Home Entertainment - for private buyers looking for an affordable solution for home entertainment and infotainment that offers high audio/video capabilities and a friendly price-tag. The high-end function group offers rich multimedia features, whereas the entry level solutions feature basic entertainment features.

Notice that Desktop Replacement is clearly targeted towards the business end of the spectrum, while the 9800 series fits squarely in the Home Entertainment group. If anyone should know which mobile solution belongs to which functional group, it's Acer.

So it's designed for Home Entertainment and if you've got the room, there's very little else that can pack so much entertainment into such a (relatively) small space.

I mean, even in storage terms, the spec sheet talks of two, 120 GB Serial ATA drives that support RAID 0, 1 and Intel Matrix RAID meaning you get superior data protection plus this new fangled technology from Intel that allocates a safe storage area for important data alongside a faster area for the operating system and other applications. Fast and secure then.

Then there's that monitor. Take a look at the specs: 20.1" WSXGA+ high-brightness (300-nit) Acer CrystalBrite™ TFT LCD, 1680 x 1050 pixel resolution, 6 lamps. Now that's big and bright. Naturally if that weren't enough, you can always hook up another external monitor and double the impact, as if you'd really need to...

Screen size apart, what I really love about this notebook (and all Acer notebooks with this technology) is GridVista. GridVista automatically splits the screen up into semi-equal parts (depending on your chosen number of divisions) and is one of those technologies you don't really think about until you have to work on an application intensive project on another PC. Boy is this a clever invention! Thing is on the 9800, the screen is so large you can split it up into 8 sections. Which means that, technically, with two screens you could have 16 applications open at the same time and see and use every one of them. Wicked.

I won't go into the HD DVD argument just yet as I haven't been able to test it first hand and as far as I'm concerned, it's not exactly the ideal storage solution as I'm sure blank HD DVDs will cost more per GB than, say, an external hard drive but more of that later.

The 9800 is massive no doubt about it. We're talking 105/6-key keyboard with room to spare. But if you're looking for something that does pretty much everything (digital TV included) on a massive scale and doesn't look like a relic from the office, this is definitely it.

PS Get the optional Acer Bluetooth® VoIP phone. Trust me, your back will love you for it.

Acer doesn't shine on ShinyShiny

2006-11-02T10:17:00.000+01:00

I’ve been a bit slow off the mark lately. I’ve just tracked down a vlog on Shiny Shiny's site this morning. Susi Scarlett gave a quick one minute overview of the Ferrari 1000 which I think deserves a mention.

I like the Shiny Shiny site. It’s quick, easy and very girl-oriented and a lot of fun to keep up with. Thing is, quick and easy doesn’t always paint a proper picture.

I know I run the risk of getting flamed by a lot of girls over this but this isn’t an anti-girl thing. Quite the contrary…

First of all, while I can fully understand that car-branded products don't exactly tick every girl's desire box, given a bit of thought, there's more to the Acer/Ferrari co-branding than cheap products and car sounds.

Acer and Ferrari may or may not be cool in your part of the world, but they are recognized the world over for their technology-driven values and share some serious appeal, proven year in and year out by their unstoppable growth.

Look even closer, you’ll find that “cheap” is in fact a cruel interpretation of “value”, with Acer delivering more features per pound/euro/dollar/yen etc.. than almost everyone else, again yet another reason why Acer is so popular.

Acer is an official sponsor of Scuderia Ferrari and anyone who saw Schumacher's final fling in Brazil will always remember the car he did it in. Not a bad team to be involved with if you ask me.

Susi also mentioned brand popularity amongst her male friends. I’d love to have sat in on that top trumps conversation. Bentley and Aston Martin… both undisputedly great brands but suitable for PCs? Really? They may be fast but they’re hardly light (one of the most important decision makers when choosing a notebook). Ferrari gets weight down with carbon fibre, Bentley adds weight with chrome, walnut and wilton – all magnificent for cross continent adventures, but hardly the sort of values you need when your job requires you to haul your notebook around all day.

Audi I agree with. It shares values that are closer to IT standards but does anybody seriously think Audi could out-brand Ferrari? They may win at Le Mans but it’s not as high profile as F1. Besides they win with diesel engines which even Susi’s ultra-high-fashion male friends would have a hard time associating with cool. And let’s not even begin to talk about the appeal of an estate car…

Brand issues aside, I also would like to point out that the “Bluetooth adapter” Susi mentions is in fact the first integrated Bluetooth-enabled VoIP phone on the market, designed specifically to make internet phone calls a reality and to avoid having to wear those bundled headphones you get with webcams or even worse, leaning over at weird angles to shout into the built-in microphone. Oh, it also has hands free capabilities to you can talk and type, for free.

It's the little details like these that makes technology easier to use. Making technology work is what Acer and Ferrari represent, and is why it’s a perfect match.

A one minute video may be quick and easy, but it’s nowhere near enough to show the plusses and the minuses of a serious product and all too quick and all too easy to get it wrong.

Number 2

2006-10-30T22:59:00.000+01:00

So Acer makes it to number 2 in EMEA.

This is a habit I could get used to. Well I am used to it really. You see every day I am given the enviable task of finding out what makes Acer's products tick and transferring that to the brochures or descriptive paragraphs you probably read several times online before you buy.

There is a problem with this task though, and it's something I'm working on. No, it's not a defect of the product, more like a limitation to the amount of information I am allowed to write. That is often left to the lucky journalists but even they sometimes overlook the reason a notebook, or PC is specced like it is.

The truth is that what you read only scratches the surface of what these products can do.

But obviously it's more than enough to wet some serious appetites.

Gearing up for even more innovation

2006-10-27T16:27:00.000+01:00

It's been a slow week from my desk as far as Acer is concerned. Don't get me wrong there are an awful lot of new and exciting products on the way, and things are definitely on the boil, but this week everyone has been focussing on the 30th anniversary celebrations in Taiwan.

There were several reports I read over the event and, as you see from the comments, it was very much a business celebration. This one from Forbes, and another from Techworld show just where the emphasis was.

Business may look good, but I'm all pumped up for the new products. The end of the year is always an exciting moment, as the next-generation solutions due for launch at the beginning of the year start to show.

There's so much same-ness about IT today, it's great when the mould gets broken and Acer's usually pretty fast at getting things to market.

I'm also glad to see that Acer's desktop PCs are beginning to make their presence felt. There have been some pretty good innovations and ideas over the years but unfortunately these haven't been getting the attention they deserve. Now things are changing and the ultra compact Veriton 1000, Aspire iDea and integrated Media Gateway in some of the LCD televisions are a perfect demonstration of the jump in quality innovation in this segment.

The Veriton 1000 is not only a technological work of art, it's also drop dead gorgeous, while the Aspire iDea really has taken digital convergency several generations forward.

So here's to next year. Can't wait to see what's in store.

The indirect conversation

2006-10-22T22:56:00.000+01:00

I'm slowly coming round to the fact that it's not always about the product.

I grew up in this field promoting the product. At first I would look long and hard at it, see what it did and didn't do, and draw my own conclusions.

That works for a lot of copywriters and just as many products, but in this business, you soon learn that the product is only half of the equation. IT is a solutions provider and the product sits in the middle of two very powerful forces that interact constantly with one another, pulling and pushing almost until they break.

On the one hand, you have the buying public, real people looking for solutions to very real problems. On the other, you have the sales channel that carefully monitors market trends, listens to feedback, and actively seeks out the most advanced and cost-effective technologies to satisfy an increasingly-demanding market.

When the product and sales channel are separated, each an individual business responding to its own, specific business agenda, the two work together naturally and symbiotically for the greater benefit of both. The result is, to use an age-old expression, bigger than sum of its parts.

It goes without saying that one cannot exist without the other, yet the relationship goes deeper than that. The more the sales channels listen to their customers, the more feedback they give IT vendors, and the more feedback IT vendors receive from the sales channel, the more rapidly and efficiently they can evolve to meet the market's needs.

The shelf life of "advanced" technology today is only as long as the wait for the next leap forward. Just look at how fast integrated webcams appeared on Acer notebooks after Skype made VoIP calls child's play, or how fast wireless connectivity was adopted by both business and home users.

Today's innovation is tomorrow's minimum system requirement.

When you're marketing someone else's product (i.e. not one you dreamt up at night), you inevitably join the conversation at some point in the middle of that tug of war. You have the job of promoting something users have been crying out for while at the same time fuelling the market's desire to pursue innovation.

At Acer, my job is made particularly easy. You see, every time someone purchases an Acer product, they buy it from that same sales channel. This indirect business model gives Acer priceless feedback and a simply unrivalled way to get closer to its customers' needs, and into their thoughts.

Those thoughts go a long way towards shaping the next product, which takes Acer on another significant step in the right direction.

Easy job? Hardly, but the conversation is truly stimulating.

30 years young!

2006-10-19T21:08:00.000+01:00

Not many people know this, but Acer is about to celebrate 30 years in business.

It's a sobering thought when you think about it. Acer was there at the very beginning of the PC revolution. It was a pioneering force behind Taiwan's IT evolution and is still there today, ranked as the world's fourth-largest PC vendor.

Technology has moved on so far since 1976, with so many unexpected developments and evolutions, it's almost completely unrecognizable today.

Breaking down the barriers between people and technology has been Acer's mission from the outset and its stubborn refusal to accept comprimises on this promise has allowed it to stay at the forefront of the IT world throughout its many transformations.

Celebrations kick off in Taiwan some time next week, but not just for what Acer has achieved, its market share or operating results, but to celebrate what the Acer brand stands for, the value it brings to each of its customers and continued research into making technology simple.

I know, this all sounds like an uncontrollably exaggerated Acer hype. Well it is. It's a great company to work with and an honour to be a part of their future. Happy Birthday Acer. I wish you many more happy and succesful years to come.

Masked opportunities

2006-10-11T13:12:00.000+01:00

It is not my intention to transform this blog into a political platform but I just wanted to share yesterday's experience with you.

There are, as you probably know, some very influential bloggers out there with very large audiences. Sneezers I believe Seth Godin calls them as just a few well chosen words can spread an ideavirus faster than the speed of light.

Yesterday, one of them noticed a blog by someone called the Masked Blogger, who wrote about his company. Apple.

Now Apple has a strict no-blog policy and so MB's comments stirred up quite a commotion. So much so that Dell's PR machine jumped straight in and posted a beatifully-worded declaration of how it alone was changing the face of customer support.

Why am I posting this here? Because I wanted to share with you an article that quotes Mr Accolla, Acer EMEA's Vice Chariman, and Acer's changing attitude towards customer support.

This is Accolla's part of the article:

Acer’s service levels have come under strong criticism from the channel over the past couple of years, however, at the global conference Acer revealed that it had made a significant investment in improving customer satisfaction.

Emanuele Accolla, Acer EMEA vice-president, admitted: “Our average repair time was very bad 18 months ago. We had a crisis and couldn’t provide the necessary support, but we have since put in a huge amount of investment to rectify this.”

Acer now has 15 direct repair centres in EMEA that can handle up to 5,000 repairs a day. It also has six direct call centres manned by 250 employees who can handle 18,000 calls a day; one spare parts hub with 150 employees and structured web site support that can handle 40,000 downloads a day.

“We care about customer satisfaction,” Accolla said. “We have in place a directly owned customer service structure to serve our customers. We interact directly with our customers on after-sale support for a better understanding of their needs.”

Acer has implemented a customer satisfaction rating system with a score of one being unsatisfactory and five being very satisfied.

“We were a score of three on average 18 months ago and now we are more than four,” Accolla claimed. “More than 900 completed customer satisfaction interviews a month are carried out to obtain these figures.”

Acer said its average repair turnaround time is now four days; its average call centre response is 80 per cent and the average response with no delay is 50 per cent.

“Our goal is that four out of five customers are given an answer to a problem within a couple of minutes,” Accolla said.

Basically the problem of customer support exists across the board. No manufacturer or vendor can escape the risk of product malfunction. They're all trying to address the problem and Acer is no exception.

Even the most well-oiled system is going to squeek every now and then but don't let that discourage you. Should you ever have a problem with an Acer product, give your local Acer customer support a ring and see for yourselves if Accolla was right.

Oops... Forgot one!

2006-10-09T17:46:00.000+01:00

Earlier I mentioned the C510 PDA. In a rush of excitement I forgot the C530 which shares the same general specs but also features integrated 802.11b/1g WiFi capabilities.
That lapsus just made the choice a little harder...

Beta website

2006-10-09T17:19:00.000+01:00

Anyone been to the Acer websites in the US or EMEA regions recently?

I say "sites" because each country has it's own, which, of course is all part of the same.

If you have you may have noticed the odd change here and there... Well, the old site was a little, emm... old wasn't it?

In a bold move towards making the site more customer-related (Thanks Kathy!) and to give Acer a chance to introduce the new horizontal split between private users, professionals, SMBs and large enterprises, Acer has shifted away from the old "stand-and-deliver!" style presentation to a much more "talk-to-me" site.

It was never going to be easy to modify the way so much information is presented but, like I mentioned in an earlier post, change happens and it's certainly happening at Acer.

A site designed to be translated into 14 languages and offering as many inter-related products and solutions is never going to be easy to implement, but I personally like the change because for the first time my mother narrowed her choice down to 5 notebooks before asking me what to look for.

There are gaps - we know only too well - and we're working as fast as we can to fill them so hang tight.

One more thing. If there's anything you'd really like to see on the site, let me know. You never know, they might even agree to put it up.

New GPS-equipped Pocket PCs on the way

2006-10-09T09:11:00.000+01:00

It’s been a little quiet around here as I’ve been a little busy putting the final touches to the marketing material for the new PDAs. The N310, N311 and C510.

I saw them at the global press conference at Montecarlo and these babies are really neat. Their release date (sometime on November?) is pretty fortuitous too as I’m looking for a portable navigation device for my new car which should be arriving right around then. Before anyone mentions it, I did spec the thing with a navigator but apparently Ford can’t supply them… I’ve been using a Garmin Street Pilot III and it’s got me out of more than my fair share of pickles, but after four years of peerless service, it’s time to move on, and I’m looking for something that’ll help me out on the road yet will also take care of some other, memory-taxing chores.

That’s why I’m not going for any of the “standard” portable navigators, even though “GPS-capability” is 80% of my reason to purchase.

The N310 and C510 both have GPS capabilities, standard on the C510 and available as a kit on the N310 and N311, yet the things are small enough to sit in your pocket. They have seriously powerful processors, run Microsoft’s latest Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC and take

SDIO capable expansion slots, meaning I’ll be able to plug in an endless list of goodies and accessories, wife permitting.

The N311 also includes Wi-Fi 802.11b connectivity, meaning I can get to where I’m going without any classic-Michael wrong ways AND, if there’s a network available, still have time to post a blog. Cool!

The other thing that caught my attention is that the N311 has a 3.7” screen. This may seem like a small point, but I’m one of those men who really can concentrate on only one thing at a time so the bigger the arrow, the more likely I am to see it when I’m driving!

Sold. I’ll post a review the moment it arrives.

Empowering Pareto's Principle

2006-10-03T15:51:00.000+01:00

It has been mentioned more than a few times that 80% of the components of competing PCs are all the same.

Think about it: LCD screens, processors, hard disks, graphics cards (and dare I say it, batteries)... they're all shipped in from one manufacturer or another and assembled in various combinations to offer optimum solutions at specific price points.

So what's the difference?

The difference lies in the remaining 20%. That's the part that contains all the added-value of one brand over the next. Sure, this part contains things like warranties and after-sales support, but even there companies compete on more or less the same level.

The one thing I have always liked about Acer is, quite simply, what you don't see. If you take a closer look at the spec sheets, the number of "AcerXYZ technologies" is really quite something. You've got Acer SignalUp technology that conceals an extra-sensitive PIFA antenna on top of the LCD screens where they enjoy maximum signal strength as well as Acer InviLink™ Nplify™ wireless technology as featured on the latest Ferrari notebooks. That'll explain why all the Acer notebooks I've owned always seemed to suck a wireless signal out of nowhere.

Then, on some notebooks, you've got the massive Acer Video Conference package that includes a 1.3 Megapixel Acer Orbicam™ that in turn features Acer VisageON™ technology (a face tracking feature that keeps your face in the centre of the screen), and Acer PrimaLite™ technology that automatically adjusts the colour and definition for clearer pictures the really clever Acer Bluetooth® VoIP Phone that pops out of a slot and saves you yelling into the daft little built-in microphone.

What about the screen? They’re all the same aren’t they? Well. No. First Acer came up with Acer CrystalBrite™ technology that took screen clarity to another level and then they introduced something called Acer GridVista™ which resizes the application windows and slots them into dual, triple or quadruple grid configurations so everything you have open is right there in front of you where you can see it (tip: if you really want to get the most out of this feature, hook up a second external monitor (which you’ll probably do through the Acer PCI Express® ezDock) and then tell me if having up to eight organized windows doesn’t speed you up a little bit).

How about protection? Well for starters there’s Acer Gravisense that protects the hard disk by automatically retracting the disk heads if the notebook takes a fall and there’s even Acer Anti-Theft technology that sets off an alarm if the notebook is snatched away.

Then there’s the mother of all add-on applications: Empowering Technology. I’ve only ever come across a couple of other blogs that talk about this software whose sole purpose is to make changing something “important” on your PC, notebook or whatever, simple. Apart from the one on The Acer Blog, which in turn links to a pretty cool explanation here, I also found a quick review of it on Tracy and Matt’s blog.

Empowering Technology shouldn’t be underestimated. I have seen it used in real situations and it makes as much difference as all the other trademarked technologies listed above put together. It’ll be interesting to see how it evolves with the Vista platform.

But that’s another argument. The fact is Acer has bundled almost its entire product range with a series of added-value technologies each designed to help you get more out of your product. Notebooks, Desktops, projectors and even their TVs have been given the Empowering treatment. If you don't believe me, then read this.

Acer doesn’t shout too loud about this added value, and I really think it should as I believe this particular take on Pareto’s 80:20 principle says a lot more about a PC vendors approach to its customers than any performance benchmark ever could.

Sudoku rocks.. but MusicMatch is food for thought..

2006-10-02T16:27:00.000+01:00

OK. I'll admit it it's a pretty well-executed feature. And it does distract from some of the less-than-shiney features of this box of tricks.

I think when you take the MP340 for what it is (ultra-versatile portable storage device), rather than what the market probably thinks it is (MP3 player), it all gets rather interesting. It's very much a plug-and-play device and likes filling its large-capacity memory with good old, premium grade drag and drop. And the video conversion tool is neat too.

My point is this: wouldn't it be great if Acer bundled an MP340-spotting MusicMatch suite to help with the oh-so-dull Windows file swapping interface? I mean, Acer has just signed an agreement with Yahoo! to install it’s next-generation PCs with a co-branded toolbar and startup page as of, erm.. yesterday...

And with this agreement, Acer PC's will now come with Yahoo as the default search engine and will include the usual Yahoo services, such as links to music, sports, messenger, and e-mail. ..

And Yahoo owns MusicMatch....

Just a thought...

MP340, blind iTunes and the promise of convergency

2006-09-30T06:42:00.000+01:00

I've finally taken the MP340 out of the box and it's sitting on my desk charging. I'm going to leave it there this week-end and explore it more on Monday before the kids clap their eyes on it.

One of the things I did though was connect it to my PC and launch iTunes. Surprise surprise, it didn't see it. I guess this has been written before but I think it's a pretty sneaky move to proprietizing music playback. It's like selling a CD and then only being able to play it back on a player from a single manufacturer. Don't know what's on the accompanying disk but maybe I'll re-install Music Match or Real Player - that should smooth things out.

I suddenly have an issue with Apple's system of patenting everything. Their products are undeniably slick, I'm not so sure I can say the same thing about their business practices.

But I digress. The MP340 is a cute little thing. I'll post about the performance when I've had a chance to play with it a little.

What I like about it so far is what it stands for. Suddenly, Acer is right smack in the middle of mainstream consumer products and convergency as a result is a little bit closer to becoming a reality.

As a concept, convergency is definitely something I'm in to. Bringing the best of both worlds (IT and consumer electronics) together is a killer idea, and I really like that Acer is making the first moves. I mean, there aren't too many Pioneer PCs knocking about are there?

As if to prove a point

2006-09-28T15:21:00.000+01:00

Like the title says, If you look at this photo, you'll see it's a 20GB Acer MP340 that's been getting quite a bit of re-circulated articles about how it's the only one out there with Sudoku on it...

OK. I understnd that these sites were pushing the same piece to add content to their own, and while I'm the last person to the work of others, is that all there is to say about it?

The end of the iPod is nigh because of Sudoku? Really? Can't see many Nike-clad joggers lining up for this then...

Normally I'd jump at the chance to write my own review of this but as it's been sitting where it is on my desk for the best part of two weeks, I guess it's not something that's going to happen soon.

Now fair's fair. One of the reasons I haven't unwrapped it yet is that I'm in love with my own iPod. A 6GB iPob mini that my wife bought me a year or so ago.

I have had no experience with other media players so it's going to be like switching from a Nokia to a Motorola. But if there's something I don't like about the iPod it's iTunes (I know they're separate entities but think about the natural link between these two for "the rest of us"). The number of times my iTunes store (Italy) hasn't had something that is freely (in the figurative sense) available in other countries actually gets right up my nose and has contributed to the not-inconsiderable erosion of the appeal of the iPod (simplicity and slickness).

And as my own music tastes have taken me to obscure places like K7, Kompact, Music for Robots or even the brilliant Real Audio from Switzerland, I'm beginning to discover that there's a lot more out there than play-it-safe iTunes.

OK. I'm weird. I have a serious music fever disorder and love everything that has a beat so my tastes aren't exactly mainstream but my move away from mainstream music supply chains just happens to coincide with the arrival of the MP340 on my desk which, as I haven't seen it mentioned in ANY home entertainment magazine or online review, is about as far away from mainstream as you can get.

In fact, maybe it's so uncool that I'll be named a national hero for being brave enough to take it out in public.

It's gotta be worth a try no? OK I'll start unwrapping it right away!

A quick intro

2006-09-28T08:35:00.000+01:00

As this is my first post I guess I should introduce myself and clear a few things up. I am a consultant copywriter which is a lofty term considering I am re-discovering everything I do and stand for (see my other blog lingolook). Yes I do work for Acer but not directly and I do have other clients I work with on an ongling basis.

What I want to do in this blog is write about the stuff I see (and some I don't) and try and put a bit more effort in getting across the passion I have for Acer and its weird and wonderful products that I just can't get across in the standard 2-page brochure or single paragraph ad you might have read recently.

Don't get me wrong. This is not a Acer-push-site or some kind of guerilla marketing technique I picked up somewhere. I am the first (literally!) to have a hard time coming up with something creative (read: positive) to say about one or two of the things that come my way but more often than not I get my grubby paws on a much bigger picture than you guys eventually see (what's a PR guy to do?) and think it's only fair I share my feelings about them with you.

So. No sneek previews. No insider information, just a passion to get some more info out there and why not? pick up some criticism or encouragement along the way...