Acer lowers forecast for tablet, notebook shipments, blames limping European economy

Acer had high hopes for 2011, however it appears like its expectations can have been slightly too optimistic. Today, the corporate issued revised forecasts for shipments of its tablet PCs, predicting to go between 2.5 and 3 million units by year’s end — down from the five to seven million it projected earlier. Acer chairman J.T. Wang expects current quarter notebook shipments to dip by ten percent from their Q1 levels, before stabilizing or slightly increasing during Q3. Per the new-look firm, these downward revisions are largely resulting from lagging economic growth in Europe, though its Asian and US markets “remain healthy.” European inventories are expected to diminish to normal levels by the tip of this month, which should allow the company’s market share to rebound through the second 1/2 this year. It’s under no circumstances a dire outlook, but it’s not likely the beginning new Corporate President Jim Wong was seeking to get off to, either.