Acer: There's no 'Swiss Army knife' approach for consumers

Forget the post-PC world that Apple reckons we're in, the tablet, smartphone and PC-like device are all must-haves for today's consumer.

So says Acer, a company which just so happens to make smartphones, tablets and PC-like devices.

When asked if it's important to Acer to differentiate between its large smartphones and small tablets, Aymar de Lencquesaing, smartphone president at Acer, told TechRadar:

"To a certain extent it doesn't matter because really it depends on usage. If you're creating content, you want a PC. If you want something on you all the time, then it's a smartphone. The tablet is a new proposition; it's fun, it's instant-on and you can take the internet to places where you couldn't use it before."

Pointless fun

He continued, "Even in a tablet you have a different segmentation between the 7-inch and the 10-inch. So the 10-inch device by and large tends to stay in the house. The 7-inch tends to be taken with you because it's more portable.

"Our view is that there's no such thing as a Swiss Army knife approach to these things. You don't have a device that becomes the magical device that does everything for everyone tomorrow; most users will have a minimum probably of three different devices they connect with routinely.

"The 24/7 usage one is the smartphone device, one is the tablet device and one is the PC-like device. Most consumers will end up carrying and having those three devices in their lives."