The shrinking margins inevitably lead to industry consolidation. Acer founder Stan Shih said that the Wintel model doesn’t work anymore with Microsoft and Intel keeping all the profits. The Taiwanese company can either experiment with other platforms (like it already does) or try to further enhance its supply chain; or look to merge with some other company and benefit from the economies of scale. And guess which company they could merge with – its archrival Asus, which too is based in Taiwan.
At the moment, the two CEOs just have “an open mind” about this. Acer’s Stan Shih said that any deal must be thoroughly analyzed in a way that gives maximum benefits to shareholders, employees, and even society as a whole. On the other hand, Asus is known for its organic growth throughout the years, but with the changing times, anything could happen. At the moment, Asus is making both Windows and Android-based products though just like Acer, it has hard time convincing operators to sell its gear.
So this deal is still in the “early rumors” phase, but honestly – we can see it happening. Not only do Acer and Asus have to worry about competitors from the U.S. (think: Apple, HP, Dell) but also from China, most notably Lenovo which keeps growing like it’s nobody’s business. We’ll be on the lookout for any related news and get back to you as soon as we have something worth talking about to add. Stay tuned…
[Via: Unwired View]