Sam OliverAcer Corp. Chief Executive Gianfranco Lanci resigned Thursday, as his company looks to reorganize in an effort to take on the iPad and other tablets like it. The company hopes to find a permanent successor by the end of April.
Lanci's exist was put in context on Friday by DigiTimes, which noted that the impact from Apple products was a "key reason" for his departure. It was also said that Nokia's ex-CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who left in September 2010, and ex-CEO of LG Electronics Nam Young were both forced to leave "because of their inability to defend their companies from Apple's fierce competition."
Citing sources at Acer, the report noted that the iPad had a major impact on the netbook market in 2010. As a result, the company saw almost no growth in shipments for the year.
In addition, Acer is planning its own tablets to compete with the iPad and other devices in the market, but the report classified those products as "outmatched in terms of both hardware and software." It's the same story in the smartphone business, where Acer is said to be "incapable" of competing with brands like Apple.
"Since first-tier smartphone and PC brands are still unable to find an effective strategy to counter Apple's advance, with Lanci the most recent victim of Apple's assault, the sources believe executives of brand vendors such as Motorola, Sony, Toshiba, Asustek Computer and Lenovo are all in danger of being dragged off by the wave," the report said.
Just this week, Acer declared its intentions to "overhaul operations" in an effort to counter the success of the iPad. Stan Shih, founder of the Taiwanese PC giant, made the comments after his company reported two quarters with downward revisions of sales targets.
Acer's about-face is a change from last year, when the company's chairman predicted that Apple's "closed" iPad platform would drop to just 20 percent market share. Currently, Apple remains the dominant player in the touchscreen tablet market.
AppleInsider Staff
Malcolm Owen
Oliver Haslam
Andrew O'Hara
Wesley Hilliard
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
97 Comments
Been reading AI for a while now, and never felt the need to post a comment... until now.
I have to say I am very conflicted by all of this news about these executives making stupid comments. Now it seems, rightfully, that some of these guys are getting shown the door.
My conflict is this. I really enjoy reading what these guys have to say. It is so comical to me that I have really started looking forward to reading them (even more than my morning Dilbert). Further, every time one of them talks I feel even more pleased with my choice of Apple products for our office and home.
However, I really feel like some of these companies really should be producing really cool products. I would love to own an iPad, iPhone, MacBook Pro and some other really amazing or even "magical" product from HP that Apple has not even thought of yet. It is frustrating to me that there is only one (in my opinion) innovative tech company right now.
It seems to obvious to me what these tech companies need to be doing, that is spending money on coming up with the next big thing rather than trying to copy someone else's innovation. Does anyone have a good reason for how these giant tech companies can be stupid? Can we blame it on the corporate culture of getting through next quarter rather than the long term plan?
Not a good day to be a CEO.
Dell's Andy Lark is probably next.
Been reading AI for a while now, and never felt the need to post a comment... until now.
I have to say I am very conflicted by all of this news about these executives making stupid comments. Now it seems, rightfully, that some of these guys are getting shown the door.
My conflict is this. I really enjoy reading what these guys have to say. It is so comical to me that I have really started looking forward to reading them (even more than my morning Dilbert). Further, every time one of them talks I feel even more pleased with my choice of Apple products for our office and home.
However, I really feel like some of these companies really should be producing really cool products. I would love to own an iPad, iPhone, MacBook Pro and some other really amazing or even "magical" product from HP that Apple has not even thought of yet. It is frustrating to me that there is only one (in my opinion) innovative tech company right now.
It seems to obvious to me what these tech companies need to be doing, that is spending money on coming up with the next big thing rather than trying to copy someone else's innovation. Does anyone have a good reason for how these giant tech companies can be stupid? Can we blame it on the corporate culture of getting through next quarter rather than the long term plan?
These companies do not suck, apple is a cult and once everyone takes a bite of the apple are under its control...
But really, the problem all these companies have they lack the single vision of how things should be, plus they do not control every part of their product. They all are relying on some other company to do things the right way.
I do not think a single person will say apple products are the perfect technology, however they do work well. Plus Apple does not do check list marketing. These other companies still think as long as their list of features are longer than the next guy they will see more sales.
Think about how many comments have been made over the years about the list of features apple products are missing, therefore, they will fail to win against the competitor who has the best list. Every time someone makes those kinds of comments, fail to understand and failed marketing 101. This is not apples game, apple provides the right amount of featurea that satisfy the majority of the people and make it works so people do not feel like they need all those other features.
Plus Apple is run by Jobs and he has a vision of how things should be and he is still executing again this, his vision is well beyond next year it is probably 10 to 20 yrs out.
There seems to be only one way to describe the competition in the tablet/smartphone/content space at the moment: in total disarray.
Their corporate structures don't allow the company-wide shift in thinking that will be needed for one of these rivals to take on Apple. They want to make an 'iPhone killer' or some half-baked tablet with multiple variations. None of them seem capable of going back to the drawing board and designing a small, focussed family of products that make sense to each other and share an OS genealogy that they have control of themselves.
Apple only sell 3 Macs, 3 MbPs, 2 MbAs, 2 iPhones and 1 iPad as mainstream products. That's a core of just 11 pieces of hardware. All those devices run the same OS, albeit with iOS being OSXLite for the time being. It's focussed and keeps the brand identity clean and clear.
People know what a MacBook looks like, what does a Dell Laptop look like? What does an HTC phone look like?
I'm not saying it's easy to affect change, but knowing what you should be doing seems fairly straightforward and either these guys can't see it and don't deserve their salaries (to put it mildly), or they aren't allowed the freedom to make the changes they know they must. Either way, Apple is gaining a formidable position at the moment. I can't remember anything quite like it.