Gianfranco Lanci is Acer’s softspoken, yet eloquent leader. Well, softspoken except for the whole Vista thing but he just said what we were all thinking. He’s a man who gives the impression, albeit subtly, that if he were playing a game of Hearts against the likes of Dell, HP, and Lenovo, he’d be the guy quietly shooting the moon, calculated risks and all.
I had the great pleasure to be invited to lunch with Lanci and six other American tech journalists in Madrid today at Acer’s Global Press Conference 2007 event. I asked him about his company’s plans for US-bound LCD TVs, UMPCs, and if the world would ever be treated to a fancy mobile device I referred to as "The aPhone."
Doug Aamoth: Your LCD monitors seem to be very popular with American consumers, especially price-conscious ones because they seem to be consistently priced lower than comparably-equipped monitors from other brands. Given the popularity of LCD TVs in the US and the fact that you already sell LCD TVs in Europe, do you have any plans to start selling Acer-brand LCD TVs in the US and, if so, will they carry the same low price points as your monitors and would they be branded as Acer or Gateway televisions?
Gianfranco Lanci: It’s something we’re considering. I don’t know whether we’ll come in at a low price point. It’d likely be a second-tier item, probably under the Acer brand.
DA: What are your thoughts about entering the Ultra Mobile PC market? Do you have any plans to sell UMPCs and would you sell them in certain regions or would it be a worldwide effort? Would you sell them under the Acer brand or maybe use the Gateway or even the Packard Bell name?
GL: Yes, we are planning on doing that but not until the technology is ready. The biggest barrier is battery life. You have three hours now, which is pointless. You might as well use a laptop. It would have to have seven to eight hours of battery life for it to work and it would have to replace your laptop. I don’t consider them to be Ultra Mobile PCs yet. I refer to them as Ultra Mobile “devices.” We will enter when the technology is ready and it will be done worldwide under the Acer brand. We have some R&D going on in Taiwan right now.
DA: Okay, so I asked about the LCD TVs and I asked about the UMPCs and now I’m going for the trifecta here. Can the world expect to see [dramatic pause] "The aPhone?!"
GL: No! (Smiles and makes a frantic slashing motion in the air, everyone laughs) Big no.
DA: Now, I don’t want to delve into your personal life too deeply but what kind of computer do you use on a day-to-day basis and what operating system does it run?
GL: A Dell. (Everyone laughs) Actually, I use a 12-inch notebook. A Travelmate. It’s thin and light and has a long battery life, which I need because I travel so much.
DA: Running Vista, right?
GL: (Smirking) Running XP Professional.
DA: So we know that Gateway has right of first refusal for buying Packard Bell and, when you acquired Gateway that right essentially became Acer’s. Have you actually purchased Packard Bell or is that something you’re waiting to do, say, next year? Is it a done deal?
GL: Yes. What happens is that there are many regulations and regulatory bodies, government regulations, EU regulations, and so forth that we have to work with over the next few months to get everything set up and we are in the middle of that process now. We just have to wait until the paperwork is finished.
Acer sucks. Sorry to put it so bluntly. We have had two Acer
laptops that both perform terribly. One of them has been shipped to
Acer service three times. They currently have our laptop now for
four weeks. We call and are only told “the system is down”
so they cannot give us information on when we will get it back. We ask to speak to a supervisor and are told “They do not accept phone calls.”
Terrible product and absolutely the WORST customer service ever
experienced. Terrible, un-helpful reps who do not call back when
promised. An perfect example of you really do get what you pay for.
At least with Apple, I simply walk into their store and get my
problems fixed first hand.
Buy an Acer and you will be very disappointed.
I have ordered an Acer LCD monitor with the model number 2616W. When I was delivered this product by your dealer, I took the delivery and later discovered it was not what I ordered. I have clearly ordered the model 2616Wsd but I was delivered a model with the number 2623Wt. I would like to state that even the billed invoice which the dealer has sent to me states the model I ordered and I got the wrong model delivered.I called up the dealer and he insisted me on keeping this model as he claimed that it’s more innovative. I would not want to sound sarcastic but is this how Acer defines innovation? How could an expensive 26″ LCD monitor without a DVI port be innovative? Now, The dealer is simply refusing to take this product back which I never even ordered. I clearly told the dealer that I must have a monitor with a DVI port. This product doesn’t have the required feature and is of no use to me.
Acer never replied to our emails, not willing to refund or replace. We will never buy again any acer product.
acer is sh1t, dont buy or you will regret badly. Bad product support. Use it and if any thing goes wrong you wont get it repaired properly. you will have to throw.. bEtter buy SONY, DELL or some nice brands, never buy anything from these people!
Buy A-ser toilet paper, BUY 1 get 10 free, return guarenteed (in used condition, if not satisfied).
DO NOT BUY ACER OR YOU WILL BE TERRIBLY DISAPPOINTED!! THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED. THE HARD DRIVE FAILED AFTER 18 MONTHS…..EVEN THOUGH I PURCHASED A THREE YEAR WARRANTY – THEY REFUSED TO FIX IT AND WE HAD TO GO TO GEEK SQUAD TO FIX IT AND PAY THE PRICE OURSELVES. THIS COMPANY IS BASED IN TAIWAN AND WILL NOT ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS OR COMPLAINTS.
I have very bad experience with ACER with regards to their customer service
or technical support.
I bought a new desktop and use it for barely about 7 months then a problem
came up.
The problem was that the PC would hang halfway while using. Tried to
restart the pc and the screen went blank while the hardware is running.
Called up ACER and after trouble shooting, they decide to send an engineer
to repair. The engineer came and said that the contacts between the
graphics card and motherboard was oxidised. So he used an eraser and did
some rubbing. Well thankfully this works fine.
Unfortunately, the pc started to hang after 4 months of low usage. Called
up ACER and the customer service’s attitude was poor. An appointment with
the engineer was made. The engineer came and said that motherboard had some
problems and decided to replace it. He tested it and it was fine and left.
But after one hour, the pc started to hang once again. Called up ACER and
they said that I should do a system restore back to factory settings and
suggested using the Alt F10. Too bad, the pc hangs halfway while doing it.
The customer service then said that the earliest appointment would be next
week. Therefore I have to wait for another week before an engineer came to
fix the problem.
The engineer came the next week and this time, he said that the motherboard
was faulty once again and replace it once again. He left and this time,
guess what. Oh the pc hangs again after one hour. Called up ACER again,
immediately they called up the engineer and said that the engineer would
call me later. The engineer called and asked about the problems, he said
not to bother about doing anything as the hard disk is faulty. And he would
come in the evening to change it. Evening came and he came to replace the
hard disk. Oh how great it was, I was thinking, this should fixed the
problem. OH MY GOD, the pc can only be used for one hour again. And the
customer service is closed for the day.
Called up ACER the next day, Saturday, and they arrange for the engineer to
come on Monday. So hopefully the engineer is going to fixed the problem once and for all.
Another engineer came and said that he would bring the pc back to the service centre to do the repair.
One week later, he brought back the pc and it was working fine. After 10 days, the pc hangs again.
My overall experience is terrible. Could you imagine how long I have to be
on the phone to solve this problem? How many times of happiness and sadness
that I have to go through? How many times do I have to call up ACER to fix
the problem? How many restarting and waiting of the pc do I have to do?
Just not sure, how long do ACER need to fix the problem? This is a total
waste of time and resources on both me and ACER. I think, they are just delaying the problem
and wait for the warranty to end.
My advise for all: Although ACER has got good value for money products and
relatively cheaper than others on the market. NEVER buy them as the
customer service and technical support is so much poorer as compared to
others.
A very disappointed ACER user…