Acer to Focus on Android Devices Over Windows 8 PCs

Acer officials are going to throw more of their support and efforts behind Android-based mobile devices and Google Chromebooks and focus less on PCs running Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system.

During a conference call with analysts and journalists to discuss disappointing quarterly financial numbers, Acer executives said they hope to more than double how much Android devices will contribute to the company’s bottom line by the end of 2014.

“We are trying to grow our non-Windows business as soon as possible,” President Jim Wang said during the call, according to the Wall Street Journal. “Android is very popular in smartphones and dominant in tablets. … I also see a new market there for Chromebooks.”

Microsoft released Windows 8 last fall, hoping the touch-enabled OS would help revive a flagging global PC market and give the software giant more traction in the mobile device space, which is dominated now by Apple’s iOS and devices running Google’s Android OS. However, several PC makers have been disappointed with how Windows 8 has done in the marketplace, and some staunch Microsoft partners—such as Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo—have begun to sell Chromebooks.

Officials with Acer, which also has been hard hit by the downturn in the PC market, is hoping to solidify the company’s financial numbers by focusing more on the Google technology. Android devices—such as smartphones, tablets and Chromebooks—will account for 10 to 12 percent of Acer’s revenues this year, and executives hope to grow that to 30 percent in 2014, according to the Wall Street Journal.

That would be good for Acer, which for the quarter saw revenues fall and losses amount to $11.4 million. During the same period last year, Acer made $56 million. Not only was the company hurt by the contraction in the PC market, but also by the amount of money it spent on new industrial designs and marketing to remake its image into more of a high-end vendor.

While Acer will increase its efforts around Android devices, Chairman J.T. Wang said Microsoft needs to work on selling Windows to end users.

“The Windows camp has to do something to re-establish or reinforce confidence among PC users,” Wang said during the call. “People are reluctant [to buy] and are holding [off] their purchasing decisions.”