Acer CEO: PC industry lacks passion
Jason Chen tells CRN vendors must do something 'extraordinary' and 'insane' to convince people to buy new PCs in today's declining market
The PC industry lacks excitement and passion, the CEO of Acer has argued after the Taiwanese vendor launched its three latest products, including the world's first curved-screen notebook.
Speaking exclusively to CRN, Jason Chen (pictured) argued that it is incumbent on PC manufacturers to "give people a good reason to go out and buy a new PC" as the market continues to flatline.
Acer launched the Predator 21X (pictured right), the world's first curved-screen notebook, at IFA Berlin earlier this week. It also used the show to debut its Swift 7 ultra-thin notebook, which it claims is the first to measure less than 1cm thick, and its Spin 7 convertible notebook.
"The problem with the PC industry today is there is a lack of excitement and passion," Chen said.
"We have to give people a good reason to go out and buy a new PC and that's why we sometimes do something extraordinary or insane - people never thought about a notebook with a curve before; we did it."
Chen said Acer has achieved 10 consecutive quarters of profitability since he became the fourth CEO in the space of two months in December 2013.
Following a period of stabilisation, Acer is now in "speed-up" mode, Chen said.
He repeated his earlier assertion that Acer will be "the last man standing" in PCs, but stressed that the strategy now is to focus on growing in niches within its traditional market while forging into adjacent sectors such as virtual reality and petwear.
"If people just followed rules and did the same thing every day, then human civilisation would stop."
IDC forecasts that the global PC market will decline by another 7.2 per cent this year, and Chen said sixth-placed player Acer has come to terms with the fact the industry as we know it is in terminal decline.
"My background is an MBA background and I must confess we didn't learn how to manage business in a declining environment," he joked.
"But in the overall market there are still some bright spots that are growing, such as gaming, two-in-one detachables, the convertible area and the slim notebook area. We have to focus our resources in the right areas."
Pet projects
Under Chen's watch, Acer has forged joint ventures with a Swedish virtual reality outfit Starbreeze and US tablet maker grandPad, and made three acquisitions, including most recently that of Taiwanese petwear start-up Pawbo (the other two being in the fields of sports and transportation). It has also set up two venture capital funds focused on scouting for opportunities in Taiwan and internationally, respectively.
Asked whether he sees pet accessories as anything more than a hopeful punt, Chen said Pawbo - which allows pet owners to monitor their pets and dispense treats remotely - fitted Acer's criteria for new business expansion perfectly.
"It has to be [a growing market], as we don't want to get into a declining business again," he explained. "And number two, there has to be no clear leader in the market. There's no clear leader in the petwear industry and we think we have a good shot to be the leader. We can do it right, and do it big, so I wouldn't call it a bet - if it's a bet, it's a pretty safe one."
The idea for expanding into petwear came from two Acer interns, confided Chen, who added that he had given engineering staff the "liberty to do things out of the box".
"Some of the ideas, like a curve display notebook, initially we had some internal discussions and people said it was crazy and stupid. But at the end of the day, I'm encouraging people to do something that people initially think is crazy. If people just followed rules and did the same thing every day, then human civilisation would stop."