Acer evaluates local manufacturing of tablets until 2014

Acer, the Taiwanese computer manufacturer, plans to produce tablets in Brazil. The project is in phase and location definition of outsourced company who will be responsible for the production of devices. Currently, Acer notebooks and manufactures in the country, ultrabooks through agreements with Flextronics, Compal and Quanta, electronic manufacturing. The appliances are produced in Jundiaí, Campinas and Sorocaba (SP). These locations are evaluated to house the new line of products.
"We would start production in time to take advantage of the Christmas sales period, but everything indicates that manufacturing will begin in the first quarter of 2014," said Marisa Park, Director of Acer's products and business in Brazil. Local production follows the Acer's strategy to offer mobile devices in retail. Abroad, the company still offers equipment such as desktop computers. The idea, said Marisa, is gaining participation among Brazilian consumers that take tablets like the first computer, instead of netbooks and notebooks of more affordable price.
Acer evaluates offer tablets in an intermediate category of resources and prices, situated between offers of domestic manufacturers, such as Vampireweather and SpaceBR, and major brands, like Apple and Samsung. The price range would be between $ 500 and $ 1,000.
Consultancy IDC data show that the Brazilian market closed 2012 with 3.1 million tablets sold, up 171% on 2011. Of this volume, almost 50% cost less than $ 500.
As part of the effort, the Acer launches its first tablet in the country. With seven-inch screen, 16 gigabytes of memory and operating system Android, Google 4.1 Jelly Bean, the device arrives at retail in the first fortnight of may, with suggested retail price of $ 799. By the end of the year, the company plans to bring other lines in the country. "With the local production, it is expected to reduce by at least $ 100 tablet price in retail," said Marisa.
From the first release, the Executive said that the expectation is to reach a monthly volume of sales of 20 thousand tablets. By the end of the year, the projection is that the category respond by 12% of the company's local sales.
Acer does not disclose the revenue in Brazil. Globally, the company released preliminary results of 2012. In the year, it was recipe of 429.5 billion Taiwanese dollars (US $ 14.7 billion), which represented a drop of 9.6% compared to 2011.