HELSINKI – Acer Inc. began releasing the first phone based on Google Android this week, and will better introduce Android handset next year
The second largest PC company launched a phone with 10 models, with all but the Android phones using Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system.

“Next year will be much more balanced,” Aymar de Lencquesaing told Reuters in an interview.

“Clearly there is momentum behind Android. The move faster than most would have anticipated a year ago,” he said, adding that the company had no plans to use other operating systems.

Android was 3.5 per cent of the global smartphone market in the quarter that ended in September, compared with none 12 months earlier, while Microsoft saw its market share fell to 8.8 percent from 13.6 percent a year earlier, according to research firm Canalys.

De Lencquesaing said that Acer has no plans to follow the top mobile phone maker, is introducing a new phone 50-100 each year.

“Our sweet spot is probably 8-10 device, there we will feel comfortable,” he said.

Fast growing smartphone industry has emerged as a battleground between the traditional handset makers and PC makers, with Asustek, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, and Dell also observed market growth.

“It’s a crowded market,” de Lencquesaing said, adding he expects prices to fall sharply lucrative smartphone as the PC manufacturer Acer.

“Anyone in the business PC is used to sharply falling prices. In the end the consumer wins, and expand the market,” he said.

In the conversation moved to the PC maker, the world’s top mobile phone maker Nokia started to sell laptops last month.

While strong profit margins in the smartphone industry has attracted the PC manufacturers, the attraction of low margin computer industry, where the scale is the key to profitability, is less clear.

“PC business is a business where scale is important commoditised,” de Lencquesaing said.

Acer has become a priority of about 40 telecommunications operators that will be used to sell the handset.

“Today is about ten phone operators sell Acer,” he said.

Acer aims to reach 6 to 7 percent of the smartphone market within 3-5 years from the entry that, aided by volume growth in smartphones cheap.
“We will stick to it. This is the core of our strategy,” de Lencquesaing said. “So far we are running more or less on the plan.”

Analysts estimate the smartphone market to reach 500 million units in 2014, this means the annual volume of 30 million-35 million smartphones to Acer.

De Lencquesaing said the company would reach the milestone of 1 million handsets sold next year.