Wang admitted that platforms from Apple and Google will join Microsoft and Intel, a partnership often referred to as the Wintel platform, to make up the three major platforms of the PC industry, according to a report from DigiTimes, but he believes new gains from Windows-based PC makers will erase Apple's recent market share growth.
"[Wang] expects Apple platform growth will start weakening in the next two years and the major driver will be replaced by rapid growth of Wintel," the report said. He also added a prediction that sales of devices based on Google's Android platform will flatten out in the PC industry.
The executive went on to claim that ultrabooks will spur surging Wintel growth next year when ultrabook prices drop to $699. For its part, Intel believes it will reach a 40 percent share of the notebook market next year with the ultrabook design it unveiled in May.
Though a separate report from DigiTimes recently claimed that marketing subsidies from Intel would enable as much as 10 percent in price cuts next year, it will likely be difficult for PC vendors to reach the $699 price point. Intel's partners have already had a tough time meeting the chipmaker's sub-$1,000 goal for the specifications. Earlier this year, they reportedly lobbied Intel for a 50 percent cut on ultrabook CPUs because they were struggling to cut costs, but Intel agreed to provide just a 20 percent discount for "first-tier notebook players."
As interest in netbooks have waned and all but a few non-iPad tablets have proved failures in 2011, PC makers have come to view ultrabooks as a beacon of hope. The slide in netbook demand has hit Acer, the No. 1 netbook maker, the hardest, though the company has tepidly voiced its commitment to market the low-margin laptops in emerging markets.
Acer suffered a humbling first-ever quarterly loss earlier this year in part because of competition from stiff Apple's iPad, but Wang believes that interest in tablets is merely a "fever" that will soon recede. Last year, he claimed that the iPad's share of the market will drop to 20 percent.
Meanwhile, Apple has seen sustained growth in Mac shipments in recent years, rapidly outpacing other PC makers. The Mac platform's worldwide market share reached a 15-year high last quarter after pushing past the 5 percent mark. The MacBook Air in particular has seen substantial success, rising to account for 28 percent of Apple's notebook shipments.
91 Comments
More like "Acer growth stalling in the face of iPads and MacBook air surge."
you don't say Charlie Brown. Boy does this guy have a great track record..
I say they won't sell because the type of people who buy them will complain it does not have a Blu-ray Drive and a Floppy. :-P
Apple is doomed, doomed, says Acer.
I can't believe these jokers always predict the demise of Apple based on where they hope their product will go to in years time vs the product and price point Apple has today?
Why do they think it is only their crappy net book that will grow into something better, and the Mac Air will be exactly the same as today? Why would they not be worrying (and predicting)a $299 13" MacBook Air with options they can only now dream of..
Wang has put in on the line. Wang said a mouthful.
Seriously, are 10% cuts really going to undermine Apple's long history in this area and economics of scale. If we are only seeing crappy Acer ultrabooks come in at $899 can they really shave another $200 off the price and still turn a profit? Even if they can, will it matter? Apple has owned the 'PC' market profits for years, and does even better in the notebook and >$1000 market segments, so I would expect them to continue to dominate the future of the ultrabook market.
They could even re-release the MacBook as a not as thin, but ODD-less machines that comes in at $799-899 while still turning a good profit. Or even cheaper running Cortex-A15-base chips with 4 or more cores. What would they do then?