Acer’s Google Android Phone Sales Beat Expectations, Lanci Says Tweet

Acer Inc., the world’s No. 2 computer vendor, said stronger-than-expected sales of its Google Inc. Android phone, named Liquid, have led to shortages of the device.

“Liquid is doing much better than our expectation,” Gianfranco Lanci, president of the Taipei-based company said in an interview yesterday. “This is why we’re a little bit short of supply.”

The Liquid touch-screen handset, unveiled in October, competes against models from HTC Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola Inc. in the market for phones using the free Android platform. Acer expects its smartphone sales, including those using Microsoft Corp.’s Windows system, to total between 2 million and 3 million units this year, Lanci said.

Acer expects to ship at least 250,000 Liquid handsets by the end of this quarter, compared with initial expectations for 150,000 to 200,000, Lanci said. Smartphones will contribute 10 percent of Acer’s revenue in about three years, one year later than earlier company predictions because of last year’s global economic slump, the executive said.

Liquid is manufactured by Taipei-based Compal Communications Inc. Foxconn International Holdings Ltd. will make a second Android handset for Acer this quarter, Jim Wong, president of Acer’s IT Products division said on Jan. 22.

Technical problems and slow consumer acceptance of Android prompted Taoyuan, Taiwan-based HTC to post a 5 percent drop in revenue last year, its first annual sales decline. HTC, maker of Google’s Nexus One handset, shipped 11.7 million smartphones in 2009, it said in a Jan. 26 statement.

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