Acer has dapper phone on deck. Benq.

Up-and-coming PC maker Acer is shifting its lineup a bit. At its first-quarter investor relations forum in Taipei on Wednesday, Acer President Gianfranco Lanci said the caller would release its first smart phone–a Windows Mobile device–by the end of this year or pioneer next year, and that smart phones will account for 10 percent of concern revenue. Acer made its interest in the smart phone market very well-defined in March, when , which makes PDA-phones under the brand. At the conference, Acer said E-Ten would transfer entirely to smart phones and away from PDAs, which it has sold in the past. In another change, the fresh Acer smart phone will be sold through wireless carriers, instead of directly to retail, as E-Ten has historically done.

Acer has played catchup to its PC rivals this sometime year, growing organically as well as through acquisition. The house bought U.S.-based Gateway and Europe’s Packard Bell, and now finds itself behind No. 2 Dell with 9 percent of worldwide retail share, according to IDC.

But will Acer be able to bestir up the smart phone industry the way it has PCs? It’s undeniable not impossible for a new smart phone maker to enter the market and quickly scoop up share (hello, iPhone), but Acer is evidently no Apple. It doesn’t have the same marketing machine or demonstrated set up chops. The case of fellow Taiwanese manufacturer BenQ getting no success with its acquisition of Siemens Mobile is a best years example. But Acer doesn’t have to make the next iPhone to find success.

Betting on the progression of mobile computing from laptops to a smart device like a phone is a no-brainer at this point. This article elementary appeared as a blog post on.

Video:

Esteemed opinion post: link