Acer: PCs are like VHS and Macs are like Betamax

Acer, one of the most popular brands in today’s market, has some choice words for Apple. Stan Shih, the founder of Acer, stated that Apple products are like viruses.

Acer founder Stan Shih, in a talks with reporters on September 8, commented that Apple’s strong popularity is mainly due to its products such as iPad and iPhone, and these products are like mutant viruses, which are difficult to find a cure for in the short-term, but he believes that PC vendors will eventually find a way to isolate Apple and become immune.

Shih also respects Apple’s brand and their direction with the market. However, he believes that “Steve Jobs has always been looking for revolution, while other PC brands evolved naturally and are developing products in a more solid way…” This unique view lead him to believe that PCs are like the VHS format and Apple products are like the Betamax format.

These choice words continued, but this time they were aimed at the U.S. PC market.

Shih also predicted that US-based PC vendors will eventually quit the PC market in the long term, and pointed to IBM’s sale of its PC department to Lenovo is one of the signs. Since profits from PC products will only fall lower and lower, US PC brands are likely to turn their focus to the services industry in the future. Meanwhile, Taiwan PC players, which are used to living on thin profits, will need to start considering how to create more added-value, and not purely produce highly-replaceable hardware products.

Source: digitimes.com