Entertainment getting star status at Acer

By RICHARD PAMATATAU in Taipei

Asian tech giant Acer is turning to entertainment with a capital E in a bid to boost its revenue and market share and to push customers towards a better digital lifestyle.

It is doing this by joining the long list of computer and consumer electronic makers who are pushing wireless networking of entertainment systems.

Unveiling the new line-up in Taiwan this week, Acer chairman and chief executive officer Stan Shih, said the Information Entertainment Technology or IET concept is designed to link a wired array of consumer electronic devices like stereos, TVs, personal digital assistants and PCs using wireless technology.

The company's new digital infotainment line includes the AspireE PC, E Box - a kind of home router, E TVD - an integrated TV and screen, E Tablet - a tablet PC, E2Go - a personal digital assistant, and E Radio - a true "wireless" that lets customer listen to radio stations streamed over the internet.

The products will be on the market in the second quarter of next year. Prices have yet to be announced.

More and more homes would start to have wireless networks, said Shih, and that provided an opportunity to link the various appliances that people used.

He said the company wanted to break the barriers between people and technology. While the PC industry had matured in the past 20 years, products had not changed all that much and non-differentiated products had resulted in unhealthy price competition.

The Aspire E PC offers "instant on" access to five entertainment modes - video, TV, stored pictures, music and FM Radio.

Access is provided by using an infrared remote control, keyboard hot keys, or simple buttons on the top of the PC.

A management console and server allow sharing of digital content with other ITE devices on the home network.

The E Box is like a stereo sound system and TV rolled into one. It enables playback of digital music and the viewing of video or photos stored on the home PC via a wireless network or the playback of content on a memory card.

Shih said the deliberate attempt to build it like an "appliance" would let it fit into the home decor, while its automatic content detection meant customers would not have to fiddle around when setting it up.

The Acer E TVD is being pitched as an "multipurpose LCD television" which, in addition to having regular TV features, also connects to the internet and can be controlled remotely.

Shih said customers could control the E TVD remotely so parents were able to set and alter its on-off times, lock specific channels to prevent children from viewing unsuitable content, or "even send a message to the babysitter" over the internet.

For control of the home network, Shih said the E-Tablet would allow customers to use handwriting if they wanted as the command method for all devices in the house.

With its retro design that references valve radios from the 1950s the E Radio would let customers not only listen to internet radio stations or digital music from the PC, but also listen to CDs and receive regular AM and FM radio.

Shih said as the world became more complicated it was important that the home or sanctuary remained able to access everything in a much simpler way.

* Richard Pamatatau travelled to Taiwan as a guest of Acer.