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Acer has announced a version of its Aspire One netbook that will run the Android operating system.

The manufacturer made the announcement at the Computex show in Taiwan, promising a release for the Android-based netbook in the third quarter of this year. Android was originally intended as a platform for smartphones, but recent months have seen great interest in porting the system over to small, cheap subnotebooks.

“Netbooks are designed to be compact in size and easy to connect to the internet wherever you go,” said Jim Wong, Acer’s president of IT products, in a statement. “The Android operating system offers incredibly fast wireless connection to the internet; for this reason, Acer has decided to develop Android netbooks for added convenience to our customers.”

The Taiwanese manufacturer said the majority of Acer netbooks will come with Android as an alternative operating system to Microsoft’s Windows.

Oh my golly gosh. Something else for Microsoft to worry about.




  1. Named says:

    Wow. Acer really went downmarket for their “model”.

  2. dusanmal says:

    “The Android operating system offers incredibly fast wireless connection to the internet” ???

  3. qb says:

    I think this is terrific, the development model for Android is quite clean and approachable which applications will go there. Netbooks and Android are a match made in heaven. I would certainly buy this over a MacBook Air or a Windows netbook.

    I wonder if touch screen capabilities will become common in netbooks?

  4. Somebody_Else says:

    Didn’t they cut all the models that came with Linux due to low sales and high returns? How is this going to be any different?

    I’ll stick with Vista on my MSI Wind.

  5. Angel H. Wong says:

    And then, Apple will release a netbook half as powerful and four times the price of this Acer Aspire and will gobble up the netbook market ’cause people prefer a status symbol over performance.

  6. Mark Derail says:

    (holding up laptop to ear & face)

    Can you hear me now?

    #4 It Ain’t Linux

    Imagine is the Palm Pre Web OS could be ported to such a machine as this.

    It’s like porting the iPhone/iTouch OS to a UMPC, something I don’t doubt Apple will do eventually.

    I’ve always wanted a UMPC that works with AA batteries with a decent OS, USB/SD slots and a 80G or better HD.
    Just to transfer pictures from the camera, resize the JPG’s and send via GMAIL using a WiFi.

    I’m still looking.

  7. Somebody_Else says:

    #6 “It Ain’t Linux”

    I know, the point is that Linux netbooks aren’t selling because people want Windows for various reasons.

    Regardless of how you feel about Microsoft you have to admit the huge number of applications availible to Windows users is a pretty big selling point. I don’t see how Linux, Android, or any other OS can compete.

  8. jescott418 says:

    I many times will these Linux zelots convince manufactures that everybody wants Linux.
    “We know you want it, you just don’t know it”
    Thanks but no thanks, Vista was not a total failure and Windows 7 more then makes up for it. See ya Linux fans.

  9. Patrick says:

    App wise this a bust. Much better to have gone Linux or MS.

  10. Jägermeister says:

    #1 – Named – Wow. Acer really went downmarket for their “model”.

    My thoughts exactly. It’s not like they can’t afford a better model.

  11. deowll says:

    Something else for Microsoft to worry about. It may compete with the hackintosh and/or what ever it is that Apple is about to release. The MS users are most likely going to stay put because they want their apps.

    I think I’d rather have linux or XP at least until 7 is around.

    My Eee PC came with XP which is fine with me though ubuntu would have also been fine with me. I just got a good deal on the version with XP so I went that way.

  12. chris says:

    My little Acer is quite a beast! It isn’t perfect, name one that is, but is the best computer I’ve ever owned. Android may or may not be great, but if it isn’t you can run linux or windows off of a usb stick.

    Yeah, baby!

  13. Special Ed says:

    Could I dual-boot it to Vista? Just in case I really wanted to fuck it up??

  14. Troublemaker says:

    Hmmm… I’m starting to see where Google is going with all this. Good thing their stocks have lost value in recent months. Might be time to invest.

  15. Greg Allen says:

    I just love my Aspire One, Linux version.

    People often say, “cool!” when they see me using it but I hardly ever recommend it to them after I talk with them for awhile.

    Linux is just too hard for most people.

  16. N74JW says:

    I haven’t used any Android products, but what happens when you want to install something on it? What happens if the user needs to view a PDF, or an MS Word/Powerpoint doc?

  17. sargasso says:

    Android is cool, solid, cut for speed on cheap hardware, has free development kits, is secure, open source and free. Programs written for a phone will run on a laptop, and vice versa, too. I really can’t see a down side.

  18. 888 says:

    Everyone says “its great, its terrific” – yet everyone will load XP or Win7 on it as soon as they buy it.
    Remember EEE? It didn’t sell until version with XP came out.

    Windoze is the standard today. Sure I prefer linux (any flavor is better than windoze)., and maybe few other geeks reading this blog.
    But average consumer will not buy if there is no damn Windows on it, that’s a sad fact.

  19. brm says:

    #18:

    “Are you Windows people completely inept or just unwilling to learn a few simple commands?”

    Unix has been my primary OS for almost 15 years. Using it is more than just learning ‘a few simple commands.’ It’s a pain in the ass.

    “It’s just next, next, next, finish with you people. Windows is a big fat stinking bore.”

    Yeah, I really hate getting stuff done! I’d rather screw around with config files and shitty UIs!

  20. Android was originally intended as a platform for smartphones, but recent months have seen great interest in porting the system over to small, cheap subnotebooks.


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