Acer to Open Online App Store

Posted 01/25/2010 at 9:57am | by Paul Lilly

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According to a Bloomberg report, Acer will try to boost its profitability to the highest it's been since 2004 by tossing its hat into the online app store biz, which will coincide with the launch of its first e-book reader later this year.

Acer's Jim Wong, president of IT Products division, said the app store will contain hundreds of downloads, "otherwise you can't call it an app store." In other words, the company doesn't plan to go at it half-cocked, and is instead serious about trying to (eventually) take on the likes of Apple, Amazon, and Google.

"If they can find a way to sell applications, then the margins can be very lucrative," said Vincent Chen, an analyst with Yuanta Financial Holding Co. in Taipei.

Acer's app store is expected to go live by the middle of the year and include software to support Google's Android platform, which the company currently installs on some of its netbooks and smartphones. It will also offer up support for Windows and Windows Mobile systems, with Chrome OS software to be added sometime down the line, Wong said.