With three new devices, Acer banks heavily on touch and type

Acer is banking big on touch and type for the future. To this effect, the company has launched in India three Windows 8 devices that let users make the best of both worlds. Though the company already has Windows 8 hybrids in the market, it has chose to brand the new series the "Dawn of Dualism".

Acer's Iconia W3 is the first 8-inch Windows 8 tablet in the market and will come loaded with MS Office Home and Student 2013. This clearly underlines the company's focus on those who would want to use tablets for content creation as well. In fact, an optional full-size Bluetooth keyboard is also available with the device for those who are not that comfortable using touchscreens.

Acer India chief marketing officer S Rajendran told Business Today that the Windows 8 tablet was already finding interest in the boardroom. He said Acer was optimistic that enterprise adoption will be a driver for adoption in this segment. Dell launched its Windows 8-powered Latitude 10 with heavy duty specs aimed at the enterprise segment late last year.

The Acer Aspire P3 is an Ultrabook that can transform into a tablet. This is Acer's first Ultrabook convertible in a segment that already has quite a few devices that twist, tear and turn to bring the touchscreen closer to the user. "The convertible has not yet reached a definitive stage. It is only in the next couple of years that we will get a clear picture about how this segment will shape up," Rajendran said. The P3 is actually a very sturdy built tablet that docks into a folio, a bit like what Logitech offers for the iPad. However, the tablet has all the features you would expect in an Ultrabook, though the dock does not hold anything extra except for the keyboard.


The third offering is the Aspire R7 notebook. Tough this one too has a multi-angle touch display that let you use the device in many angles and scenarios, it cannot be called a convertible as it does not convert into anything. In the end it is a stylish notebook with a 15.6-inch FullHD screen that can do much more than its rivals. This would be ideal for those who use their notebooks to collaborate with colleagues, but still don't need a tablet.

Acer has announced pre-offer prices that are cheaper than the box price of these devices. However, Rajendran said the duration of this offer will depend on the stability of the rupee. The pre-offer price of the Iconia W3 will be Rs 30,499, Aspire P3 Rs 54,499 and Rs 74,999 for the R7.