Acer slashes shipment forecast

Blames weak economy and Windows 8.

Acer has cut its growth forecast for 2012 by more than half thanks to a “weakening economy” and a more cautious approach by distributors to Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 operating system. 

Acer previously predicted growth of 10 percent in shipments on last year for the full year 2012, and on Friday revised that down to 5 percent, reports Bloomberg.

Acer spokesperson Kevin Lu told Bloomberg distributors are now more conservative about building inventory of Windows 8 devices as the global economy is weaker than previously expected.

Microsoft’s next-generation operating system will become available in October, with devices toting the OS from the likes of Acer, Samsung and Lenovo to retail from the same time.

Microsoft made a near-final version of Windows 8 publicly available to download in June, containing a number of new features compared to the initial preview launched in March, including Internet Explorer 10 with limited built-in Adobe Flash support, the ability to run multiple monitors and updated embedded applications.

A release candidate for Windows Server 2012 was also released to the public, along with driver kits and Visual Studio 2012 Professional.

Acer's shipments for the second quarter climbed 3.6 percent, allowing it to take over third spot from Dell, according to Gartner. The results marked its first instance of growth in two years.

Acer’s shares dropped 2.4 percent to NT$29.10 on Friday trading.