14 DAY TRIAL // Acer's former CEO was ousted quite suddenly earlier this year, and with him having stepped up to talk about the circumstances, the company was fairly quick to respond, at least according to a report.
Much like Advanced Micro Devices, Acer found itself without a Chief Executive Officer earlier this year, because the Board of Directors did not like Gianfranco Lanci's plans.
Needless to say, the general impression has since been formed that a major cause of this was the disruptive effect of the tablet market.
Still, until recently, it was not really known what plans Lanci had, so he accepted an interview where he explained what he would have done but was not allowed to.
One thing he stated was that he did, in fact, intend to make an iPad counter-product, but was unable to do much because his request to hire more foreign engineers was denied by Taiwan executives.
Lanci said that he would have wanted to turn Acer into a more global company and more focused on the mobile front, something that was seen as him seeking de-Taiwanization.
“I said, ‘Look, it is not de-Taiwanization,’” he said. “It is just globalization. If we want to be in the top three [PC makers] in the next three to five years, we need to be a global company and we need to leverage resources wherever they are.”
The former CEO also explained that the company was late in enacting its tablets and smartphone plans because it did not acquire the needed capabilities in time.
Now, Digitimes reports that the company did respond to the claims, a response that more or less denies everything that Lanci said in that interview.
Acer said that nationality of the employees was never an issue and that neither was that of the CEO.
What's more, the outfit appears to hold him alone responsible for the failure to meet target sales during the October 2010 to March 2011 period.
Not only that, but the report implies that it was Lanci's fault that the smartphone business was unable to develop properly.
Just which side is right, so to speak, will be made clear by time, depending on whether or not Acer really does manage to do better.