Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci resigned today following strong disagreements with the company's board about Acer's ongoing strategy. "On the company's future development, Lanci held different views from a majority of the board members and could not reach a consensus following several months' of dialogue," said the company's press release.
"[Both sides] placed different levels of importance on scale, growth, customer value creation, brand position enhancement, and on resource allocation and methods of implementation." Analysts believe that much of the tension derived from Acer's weak presence in the booming tablet sector, which largely remains dominated by Apple's iPad.
"The management change shows that Acer is taking responsibility in what has happened recently, but whether it is positive to the company in the long run will depend on who takes over as the CEO and the measures he is going to take," said Bevan Yeh of Prudential Financial Securities Investment Trust. "Acer does not have an edge in the tablet market."
Chairman J.T. Wang will step in as CEO until a permanent replacement is found. In a statement, Wang said PCs would remain the core of Acer's business, but the company is stepping into and cautiously investing in the new mobile device market. Reading between the lines, we assume the "new" part is referring to tablet and smartphones.