Acer Decides on New CEO, PC Sales Collapse

It looks like the most recent piece of news on Acer's part is 50% good and 50% bad, or so some might say, considering that the company seems to have chosen a direction but will have its work cut out for it, what with the sharp drop in PC sales.

Acer has been without a so-called permanent CEO (Chief Executive Officer) for a while now but it looks like the decision was taken to make Interim J.T. Wang, who was previously VP of the IT product group, full leader of the company.

In other words, it will fall to him to push Acer in the new direction it chose about two weeks ago, when the decision was taken to focus on value instead of shipment volume.

Sure enough, it looks like there were very compelling reasons for this, one of them being the abrupt drop in PC sales during the first quarter of 2011.

In fact, the company expects things to get even worse in Q2, with sales set to decline even further, by by more than 10%.

Considering that PC marketing performance fell short of goals in Q1 as well as Q4, 2010, this is no good news at all.

Apparently, Acer will start to focus more on the mobile market, especially the tablet segment, and the funding of the business unit called Touch Business Group, which focuses on these electronics, should be proof enough.

This unit is made up of the Acer's previous smartphone and tablet units and will be led by the very same J.T Wang.

"The IT industry is encountering a profound change," said Wong. "I foresee many new opportunities and am ready to face the challenges ahead. I will encourage teamwork throughout the company and work closely with the new management team. We are ready with a clear set of goals and action plans."