Acer is optimistic about its tablet business in 2013 and therefore has upward adjusted the shipment goal from five million units originally to 5-10 million units, company president Jim Wong said at a March 19 investors conference.

Acer expects tablet shipments in the first quarter of 2013 to hike on quarter by 260-300%, Wong indicated. Its 7-inch Iconia B1 will account for 70-75% of first-quarter tablet shipments, and Acer will launch Android and Windows 8 tablets in 2013. Wong noted. However, Acer expects total shipments of notebooks, desktops and tablets in the first quarter of 2013 to drop sequentially by 10-15%.

Due to recognized impairment of NT$3.5 billion (US$120 million) in intangible assets value, Acer suffered a net loss of NT$3.365 billion for the fourth quarter of 2012 and accordingly that of NT$2.910 billion for the whole year.

Of fourth-quarter 2012 revenues, 38% came from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, 28% from North and Latin Americas, 14% from China, 2% from Taiwan and 18% from other markets in Asia Pacific. Among product lines, notebooks accounted for 66% of revenues, desktops 16%, LCD monitors 8% and others 10%.