Acer: Ultrabooks will spark stalled Windows platform

From CNET News.com: Ultrabooks will become mainstream in the coming years, spurring the sputtering Windows platform, according to a Taipei-based report.

Speaking at a conference in Taipei, Acer Chairman J.T. Wang said specifications that define the emerging category of ultrabooks will become the "mainstream model for tablet PCs and notebooks in the next five years," according to a report from Taipei Times.

Wang added that the release of ultrabooks will stimulate a "stalled" Wintel (Windows-Intel) "framework."

He also said that the line between laptops and tablets will become less distinct. That comment matches up with the message that Intel has proselytizing: that ultrabooks will be very touch-centric, giving rise to hybrids that straddle laptop and tablet designs, according to comments reported exclusively by CNET last month.

At an Intel Capital conference, CEO Paul Otellini said Windows 8 in 2012 will usher in touch-based ultrabooks. "Starting with Windows 8, you have a mainstream operating system incorporating touch. Our view is that in the ultrabook lines, touch is a pretty critical enabler," he said last month.

Wang also repeated an oft-cited mainstream market trigger price of $699. To "increase ultrabook sales volumes, prices need to be kept at about US$699," Wang said, according to the report. He also repeated his prediction that Acer's ultrabook shipments should be between 250,000 and 300,000 in the fourth quarter.

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