Acer begins transformation from hardware maker to cloud player
Tue 3 Jun 2014
PC hardware maker Acer has revealed more details about how it will reinvent itself in the cloud and Internet of Things.
It has opened an “experience centre” in Aspire Park in Taiwan for its BYOC (Build Your Own Cloud) to interest partners to help it become a “hardware + software + services” company. BYOC was trailed at the end of last year alongside an announcement of more losses in a declining market in an effort to give investors a glimpse of a better future for the fourth biggest PC.
It has created what it calls a ‘new visual identity’ for BYOC (Build Your Own Cloud) and has also introduced a range of free BYOC apps or abApps to target the consumer market that synchronise files, music and other data across devices on any operating system – Android, Windows and iOS – and non-Acer hardware.
Acer’s chairman, Stan Shih, said, “Acer is continuing its decades-long tradition of challenging convention by completely redefining the meaning of the cloud for consumers and businesses; it is therefore highly appropriate that the new, powerful and distinctive visualisation of BYOC conveys this message.” He said the BYOC Experience Centre will help customers and partners use its ecosystem to build their own personal clouds.
“The computer is still our foundation,” he continued. “But BYOC is a new platform for integration, cross-compatibility and convenience. He certainly has an eye on the growing Internet of Things and is looking at developing products with partners such as apps for connected cars and the smart home.
“With BYOC your digital life is synced wirelessly and simultaneously across your entire ecosystem of devices regardless of the network connection, operating system or brand of device” said Shih.
