Acer had an almost stubborn belief that netbooks would be the saviors in 2009 and was aiming to claim no less than 50 percent of the total market. Even if Acer is the market leader together with ASUS it is still far from the goal of 50 percent and now it looks like the dropping sales numbers have made Acer reconsider.
Acer is said to reduce the production of netbooks, or more precise reduce orders from ODM partners.
To replace the less sold netbooks it will focus on the new CULV platform. Intel’s Consumer Ultra-Low Voltage platform is more powerful than Intel’s netbook platform with the Atom processor in the center and has made a reputation through the ultrathin netbooks of MSI’s X-Slim series but also Acer’s own Timeline family.
Acer Timeline 3810T with Intel’s CULV platform
Even we may like the concept of really thin notebooks with low power consumptions and acceptable performance, the CULV models usually sports at least 12″ or 13″ displays, the biggest reason for Acer’s decision to switch focus is money. CULV-based machines offer a lot bigger margins while the netbooks sales are dropping.
