Acer CEO Reportedly Fired for Looking Outside Taiwan

Between smartphones and tablets Lanci figured Acer couldn't ride on the coattails of Microsoft and Intel any more and would have to start doing more of the work itself on little items like touch and software.

It needed engineering talent with software and hardware integration skills that Taiwan doesn't have, he said - which is why it was late putting at the same time a phone and tablet strategy - however Acer's board couldn't get its mind around the concept of globalization. It cost Acer its place as the world's second-largest PC maker and trashed its earnings and stock price.

The day afterwards that story broke Acer's chairman JT Wang talked to Bloomberg and said the company's looking to buy a software developer that can "help make Acer's personal computers, smartphones and tablets more compatible with each other." To all appearances he's got a short list of two and knows he needs to move before long. However it sounds like he's clinging to the idea that Windows 8 will pluck his chestnuts out of the fire.

Maureen O'Gara the most read innovation reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected innovation reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025. Twitter: @MaureenOGara