Acer said it will produce netbooks based on Google's Android platform. The company said the Android-based netbooks will be available in the third quarter.
Acer said it is not abandoning Microsoft's Windows operating system, but said Android will contribute "significantly" to the growth of the global netbook market. The company declined to provide a price target for the netbooks.
The company also revealed that its first Android-based handset would be available in the fourth quarter. Acer had confirmed it would produce an Android phone this year, but had not previously given a specific time frame.
In other Android news, Garmin-Asus, the smartphone partnership announced in February, said it would produce its first Android phone no later than the first quarter of 2010. Jacqueline Yang, associate vice president of marketing at Asustek, said the smartphone could come earlier than that.
Google has been bullish about the growth prospects for Android, and has said that by the end of the year there will be at least 18 handsets on the market running on Android.
For more:
- see this article on Acer netbooks (sub. req.)
- see this article on Acer's Android phone
- see this article on Garmin-Asus
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