On this episode of the Six Five On The Road at Computex Taipei, hosts Olivier Blanchard and Anshel Sag are joined by Acer‘s Eric Ackerson, Sr. Product Marketing and Brand Manager, for a conversation on Acer’s innovative strategies in the evolving landscape of AI PCs, highlighting their collaboration with Qualcomm on the Snapdragon X Elite and the introduction of the Acer Swift 14 AI.
Their discussion covers:
- Acer’s leadership in PC innovation and how the new CoPilot+ PC platform and Snapdragon X Elite are setting new standards in the market.
- The transformative impact of the Snapdragon X Elite partnership with Qualcomm on the concept of AI PCs.
- Future perspectives on PC innovation driven by AI and Acer’s vision for the evolving technology ecosystem.
- The development and competitive positioning of the Acer Swift 14 AI as a testament to Acer’s ongoing innovation momentum.
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Transcript:
Anshel Sag: Welcome back to Six Five On The Road here at Computex. We’re covering the Snapdragon X Elite platform launch here and I have my colleague Olivier Blanchard with me and Acer’s Eric Ackerson, senior product marketing and brand manager. And we’re going to talk about Acer’s role in this ecosystem and with the launch of the platform. So I’ll kick it off. I wanted to know Acer’s kind of one of the world leaders in PC innovation. They’ve been building PCs for a very long time. And what I wanted to know is how is Acer innovating around the Copilot+ platform with Snapdragon X Elite to differentiate and move the industry forward?
Eric Ackerson: Thanks for having me. Our mission is to break down the barriers between people and technology. One of the ways we can do that is to introduce new features and bring it to more users to enhance and improve their experience with their products. So driving towards that, as we look at Copilot+ PC and Snapdragon X Elite platforms, there’s just so much, so more there that we can work with. And from that we’re able to develop and introduce those new technologies, taking away some of the friction from users and making it a better experience.
Now our just introduced Swift 14 AI has a couple of examples for that. Some homegrown AI applications on the device. First up is Acer Purified Voice 2.0, which has hardware in the AI software combining to reduce background noise and make a better audio and video connection. The other is Acer, Quick Panel 2.0. And this is a context aware application that will come to the forefront when a user goes to use their microphone or webcam, giving them access to the controls and the personalization of the system. Now something that’s kind of cool is on the touchpad is an AI activity indicator. It’s a kind of glowing orb that will turn on once system comes to life, but more importantly it’ll breathe and show activity. So when the system is accessing the NPU, it shows activity, the user knows something is getting done.
Anshel Sag: It’s like a modern turbo button.
Eric Ackerson: Yeah.
Olivier Blanchard: Yeah. It’s pretty cool. So how has your partnership with Qualcomm, specifically on the Snapdragon X Elite platform changed your view of what it means to be an AI PC or even the trajectory of AI PCs in general?
Eric Ackerson: So the Snapdragon X Elite platform offers efficiencies and performance that really enhances the experience and changes what can be done with the system. And I think as a result of all that power and efficiency, our own view of what an AI PC has evolved and with it comes new ways to introduce features to the users to take away their pain points. In the new advanced AI PC era usage mode has changed. It’s no longer about search, it’s about ask and task. So focusing on the efficiency of the system for a moment, all of that power, all of that capability, these new features that can be added. But really the efficiency means you can do all of this all day. The platform really extends the life of the system giving you that capability to get so much more done for so much longer.
Anshel Sag: As AI continues to drive the momentum of the PC industry, how does Acer see the future of the PC evolving along with the industry and as AI applications start to mature and we as an industry understand better where it might be going?
Eric Ackerson: So we’re very excited about what AI brings and how it’s going to change the landscape for the users and their experiences. AI, and more specifically, generative AI, really gives an opportunity to reset and rethink how things are done. In fact, investment into AI startups is booming and we really can’t wait to see all of the new creative tools that are going to come to market to help support people getting work done, being more creative and taking away some of the friction they would otherwise have with their systems. We are focused on working with industry partners like Qualcomm to develop more tools to take advantage of what’s there and enhance the overall experience. We expect the industry as a whole and PC makers to continue to innovate, to continue to drive these features into the systems and the users to find new ways to take advantage of all those tools.
Olivier Blanchard: So the Acer, Swift 14 AI is an extremely competitive and thin Copilot+ PC. So congratulations on that. How do you plan on expanding and just basically building momentum on that approach, the Copilot+ PC?
Eric Ackerson: Well, as always, we really look forward to learning from this experience and refining what we’re doing and evolving the product over time. I think most importantly, we’re going to listen to the users, what do they say, what are they doing with our systems and how can we make it better? And then finally, I would say we’re going to stay focused on our mission, which is to remove the barriers between people and technology and really enable them to unleash their creative spirit.
Anshel Sag: I would love to know what you’re thinking about when it comes to creativity and my experience with Acer has been that you guys are trying to enable creators and the Acer Swift AI is a great platform for the future, but I’m curious where does it grow from here in terms of the actual physical device? Because the Swift 14 is a fairly compact device and we’ve seen some larger Snapdragon X Elite systems. How are you guys thinking about the physical size of the device?
Eric Ackerson: Yeah, it’s a very good question and I’m afraid I can’t get too far into this because the roadmaps not announced yet, but I can tell you we definitely look at other options from a design standpoint, materials, size of screen, and finding different places to fulfill users’ needs. Different users and different segments have different needs and different paths they take to accomplish their tasks. So we’re going to be looking at how to address their specific needs and improve their experience. It might be a material choice, it could be a screen size or a technology underlying it. All that brings the whole package together.
Olivier Blanchard: So sustainability, as you know, is a big element of product design and strategy for a lot of tech companies these days. What are you guys working on in terms of sustainability, especially with the Copilot+ PC? Launches, where are some of the opportunities that you see in the future?
Eric Ackerson: Yeah, Acer has been working on this for quite a while, several years now. We really put a focus on sustainability. We even have a line of products specifically dedicated towards that. This product isn’t in that category. However, we’ve taken some of what we’ve learned and brought it over to the Swift 14 AI. For instance, the packaging is a hundred percent recycled. The materials of the chassis are, where they can be, they’re recycled PCR plastics. In the production of the product, we’re using less chemicals and less paints, so there’s less emissions during the entire process. So it’s not just about the product, it’s about the assembly and packaging and the whole production and delivery of the product.
Anshel Sag: Could you tell us about any specific design choices you’ve made with the Acer Swift 14 AI?
Eric Ackerson: So on the touchscreen version of the product, we have the bezels around the screen behind glass. So that touchscreen experience is extremely smooth. So edge to edge, no interruption and it takes away some of the pain points people have with doodling. For instance.
Anshel Sag: Thank you very much. And stay tuned for the rest of our coverage of Computex. And don’t forget to follow us on our social channels and for more posts from the show.
Author Information
Olivier Blanchard has extensive experience managing product innovation, technology adoption, digital integration, and change management for industry leaders in the B2B, B2C, B2G sectors, and the IT channel. His passion is helping decision-makers and their organizations understand the many risks and opportunities of technology-driven disruption, and leverage innovation to build stronger, better, more competitive companies.
Six Five Media is a joint venture of two top-ranked analyst firms, The Futurum Group and Moor Insights & Strategy. Six Five provides high-quality, insightful, and credible analyses of the tech landscape in video format. Our team of analysts sit with the world’s most respected leaders and professionals to discuss all things technology with a focus on digital transformation and innovation.
