Acer preps for November tablet launch

Hope you weren’t waiting for an Acer Windows RT tablet. The company is not releasing its offering until later next year.

Gartner has released a new worldwide tablet sales forecast, covering 2012 through 2016. But… Can you really trust a Gartner forecast for a bunch of products that don’t exist (example: Windows 8 tablets) and a product family whose future is at risk (example: RIM QNX).

It is true that Acer only a few months ago brought us one of the first round of Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablets In the Iconia Tab A500, a 10-inch tablet with a thin metal backing attached to one of the cheapest prices on the market. What we’ve got now is only the second 7-inch tablet on the market and the first one to carry any version of Honeycomb.

Acer unveils a 7 inch colour touchscreen tablet running Google Android OS, expects the slate to launch in October and says “this is no longer a Wintel world”.

As expected, Acer is planning on releasing a $99 Android tablet come 2013 in hopes to directly compete with Android’s other low-budget tablets such as the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7. According to the Wall Street Journal, Acer has already submitted the 1.2Ghz dual-core tablet for approval with the FCC.

Acer is introducing a 10 and 70-inch Android Honeycomb tablets, a new detachable Windows tablet and the new dual-screened Windows tablet in its battle to capture significant tablet market share.

Acer is first to launch an actual 7-inch Android Honeycomb tablet into the Australian market, despite Huawei having demo’d one earlier this year, but at AUD $479, isn’t it simply still far too expensive when compared with the iPad?

Not to be outdone by Google and Asus, Acer has now officially joined the 7-inch tablet party by releasing the Iconia A110 in the UK. Boasting specs very similar to that of the Nexus 7, it seems like Acer’s offering may hold its own in the hot 7-inch tablet market.

The Acer Iconia Tab A500 & Honeycomb& tablet will be available for pre-order for $450 at BestBuy.com on April 14, with shipments scheduled for April 24. In other tablet news, the Wi-Fi-only Samsung Galaxy Tab is now shipping for $349, and Barnes Noble (sort of) opened up its Nook Color e-reader tablet to Android developers....