Acer promises cloudbook, app store and ereader

You can’t accuse Acer of not trying its hardest to break into new markets. It has made a respectable showing, for a PC vendor, with its first smartphones, the WinMo Tempo and Android Liquid, and promises a host of new models this year. Now it is also jumping on various other bandwagons, announcing plans for an app store and the inevitable ereader.

Acer may be following well trodden paths with these announcements, but it does aim to be a leader in one other category, pledging a ‘cloudbook’ running Google’s new Chrome operating system. These devices are expected to be lighter and cheaper than conventional netbooks, and less sophisticated in media terms than smartbooks – so they will function mainly as highly portable thin clients for accessing the web easily and at very low power.

Acer’s cloudbook will be one of the first to the shelves, expected to ship around September in the US and in Europe shortly afterwards. Unlike Acer’s existing Linux netbooks, this product will run Chrome OS only, to keep battery life long and prices low. The company already offers netbooks running Android or other Linux variants, but always as a second option alongside Windows. Users can then rely on the Linux element for fast boot-up, low power and optimal web performance, and turn on Windows for more high power apps. Google claims Chrome OS, which is an ultralite browser-based OS – just an overlay on a very basic embedded Linux system – will bridge the divide and make Windows unnecessary, as the powerful services and heavy duty data will be held in the cloud.

Also from Acer, the app store will open around midyear. It will be a one-stop shop for users with multi-OS Acer devices, supporting Android, Windows and Windows Mobile, and in future, Chrome OS. The firm is going for the low rent end of the store sector, promising the apps will be “low cost or free”.

And as well as five more phones lined up for 2010, the Taiwanese company will also ship its ereader in June, and probably unveil it the Taipei-based Computex show early that month. It is set to sport a six-inch mono e-ink display and will be targeted at the European and the Asian markets.

Meanwhile, the existing Acer Android flagship, the A1 Liquid, has appeared in a black variant in the UK. There is no sign of the promised red color scheme yet – perhaps for Valentine’s Day? The Liquid Black has the same specs as its stablemate and still comes with the 1GHz Snapdragon processor underclocked at 768MHz, perhaps to save battery life. Prices are around £300 but no carrier subsidies as yet.