Dubai: The PC industry is not going to die for a foreseeable future and there is still life in the sector on some form factors, Acer’s corporate president and CEO told in an exclusive interview with Gulf News.
“Why should a person buy a PC when it can be done on a tablet or a smartphone? The PC industry will thrive for two reasons — productivity and gaming,” Jason Chen said.
In 2016, the overall global PC shipments fell by 6.2 per cent year on year to 269.7 million units. PC shipments have declined annually since 2012, according to research firm Gartner.
Acer’s PC shipments for 2016 also fell 9.9 per cent to 18.28 units in 2016, giving the firm a 6.8 per cent share of the global market, Gartner stats show.
Chen said that the PC gaming industry has overtaken the professional basketball industry in the US.
SuperData Research shows that PC gaming drew nearly $36 billion in revenue last year, driven by interest in free-to-play online games as well as growing interest in both virtual reality and competitive video gaming, or eSports.
The worldwide gaming market was worth a whopping $91 billion. Mobile gaming, powered by huge hits like Pokemon Go and Clash Royale, led the way with a total estimated market value of $41 billion.
Premium game revenues on the PC hit $5.4 billion for the year, not too far off of the $6.6 billion earned across consoles.
Innovation drives the industry and in a bid to be a force in the industry, he said that Acer was the first to have metal fans instead of plastic fans inside the PCs to dissipate heat and to come out with liquid cooling technology that eliminates the need to have a fan inside a computer.
Acer is one of the leading brands that have managed to keep the ailing PC business alive, from powerful gaming laptops to convenient convertibles.
Chen said that growth will come this year from servers, convertibles, Internet of Things, gaming and virtual reality (VR).
“Gaming contributes mid-single digit to the PC revenues and that is expected to double this year,” he said.
To stay in the forefront, Acer launched world’s first 21-inch curved screen (2560 x 1080 resolution) gaming laptop — Predator 21 X — for around Dh38,000 with Tobii eye tracking technology in the UAE.
The beast is powered by Intel Core i7 processor and coupled with 32GB of RAM, 1000GB of hard disk drive and 512GB of solid state drive. It also boasts five system fans to prevent overheating.
Chen’s clear mandate when he took charge on January 1, 2014, was to stop its financial bleeding.
“Acer is a profitable company for the past three years. Its net profit grew 30.3 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter,” he said.
Around 80 per cent of Acer’s revenue still comes from the PC industry and he said that PC business will remain the bread and butter of the company for the foreseeable future.
Before, 80 per cent of the PC revenues come from consumer and 20 per cent from commercials, he said and added that now, 50 per cent of the revenues come from commercials.
Chen said that in addition to “developing meaningful innovations”, it continues to move beyond the PC.
“Acer is exploring and expanding its business boundaries and with new initiatives in virtual reality,” he said.
He said that his intention is not to follow the market share but to make the company profitable.
“If anyone goes after the market share he will hit the wall. Our intention is clear that the new businesses must be compatible with our core competencies in PCs and computing. We want to enter a business that is growing and not declining,” he said.
Acer plans to leverage its core competency in computing and hardware to create new value in VR.
Instead of focusing on consumers by launching new VR headsets such as Samsung, HTC or Facebook, Acer is looking at the commercial use of this technology.
The Taiwanese firm has formed a joint venture with Stockholm-based game developer Starbreeze Studios to make headsets for arcades and theme parks, and is cooperating with movie company IMAX Corp to provide location-based entertainment through helmet-mounted displays.
Chen said that VR technology is nothing new; it is more than 52 years old. At that time, there was no sustainable business model.
“Now gaming and movies are beginning to merge. For example, the Warcraft movie is an adaptation of an iconic computer game. Bringing games and movies to the VR provides us with an opportunity to play in this market,” he said.
Since Acer has a strong gaming platform as well as the computing expertise that is needed, he said that the company can become a key player in this field.
Acer’s joint venture with Starbreeze is to make the helmet-mounted displays and Starbreeze also has a joint venture with IMAX.
“We will take advantage of the relationship with IMAX and movie theatres and VR has the potential to bring audiences back to movie theatres. There will be 25 VR movies this year,” he said.
He said the headsets come with a wider field of vision (210-degree field of view) compared to Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive’s 110-degree field of view.
Acer has teamed up with HTC and several tech giants like Google, Facebook’s Oculus, Samsung Electronics and Sony Interactive Entertainment to set up a virtual reality association — Global Virtual Reality Association.
Profile
Before joining Acer, Jason hen served at TSMC from 2005 as the vice president of TSMC Corporate Development. From 2008 he served as senior vice-president of Worldwide Sales and Marketing.
From 1991 to 2005 Chen held a 14-year career at Intel holding a variety of sales and marketing positions. He started at Intel as sales manager of Taiwan and later as regional sales manager of Greater China. Chen then progressed to become vice president and general manager of Asia Pacific region before his last assignment as the corporate vice president of Sales and Marketing Group based in the US headquarters.
From 1988 to 1991, Chen worked at IBM Taiwan.
