Taiwanese hardware and electronics corporation
Acer aims to increase the number of cloud service customers it caters for, with an increase to 15 million users targeted for the end of 2015. The company, which has headquarters in Xizhi, New Taipei City, Taiwan, is more traditionally recognized as a computer hardware provider and has also delved into the mobile phone arena. It is the fifth-largest Personal Computer (PC) maker in the world, and its move is a response to the contraction of the global PC industry.
Acer is placing greater focus on developing software and cloud services as a means of making up the shortfall in its PC activity. The company catered for 5 million cloud customers last year, and to date in 2015, this number has increased to 10 million. The company foresees cloud growth driven by the shopping season during the end of year holidays. At that stage Acer's PC output will be optimal. Each PC will feature preinstalled "Build Your Own Cloud" (BYOC) applications that will allow users to establish and manage cloud services that cater for their photo and music storage needs through Acer PCs and mobile devices.
Acer is also in discussion with an American PC accessory provide who, should negotiations prove successful, promote Acer's BYOC applications through its web-connected PC accessories. The move towards becoming a "hardware plus software plus services" company is shrewd in a climate where PC shipments in 2015 are expected to fall by 9%.
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