Apr. 04, 2001

Acer is the only company in the world with licenses to manufacture the Tablet PC both for other companies and its own brand, while Microsoft awarded four other companies - Compaq, Fujitsu, Sony and Toshiba - only the rights to distribute their own brand models, and thus the Taiwan OEMs expect to receive Tablet PC orders in the near future, according to local sources.

According to them, Microsoft and Acer began talks last June. The companies are expected to strike and official agreement in October, and the software giant will also select a final standard for the Tablet PC at the same time.

The Table PC should enter volume production in the first quarter of 2002.
Its initial list price will be higher then those of notebooks. Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, said the cost to produce the Tablet PC would not fall significantly until 2003.