Acer hints at Chromebook shift as Windows 8 sales disappoint

Acer president Jim Wong has hinted it would be looking to Google's Chromebook to drive future groqwth amid floundering Windows 8 sales.

Wong highlighted Windows 8's struggles in a post-PC world in an interview with Bloomberg. The Acer president heralded the Chromebook as a potential alternative to the struggling Redmond platform.

"Windows 8 itself is still not successful," said Wong in the interview.

"The whole market didn't come back to growth after the Windows 8 launch, that's a simple way to judge if it is successful or not."

The Acer president believes that Windows 8 has failed to impress because of its inability to boost the faltering PC market. Windows 8 had been looked at as an opportunity to build on the touch functionality of tablets and improve the PC market as a whole.

Acer was banking on Windows 8 success last year. In an investor presentation last October the company outlined its belief that the hybrid capabilities of Windows 8 would boost the struggling market.

Wong's sharp criticism comes in spite of Microsoft's recent announcement that it has sold 60 million Windows 8 OS downloads. Microsoft posted strong sales earlier this year on the back of its consumer market.

According to Wong, Acer will now put an increased focus on its line of Chromebooks. The notebook line is based on Google's Chrome OS and aims to reduce the cost of PCs.

Wong says that Chromebook's have represented five to 10 percent of Acer's total US PC sales. 

"[Chromebook's] value is that it's more secure," Wong added.

The Acer president said that Chromebook has been successful with the enterprise and education community because of its strength in regards to security.

Chromebooks achieve a high level of security by leveraging cloud-based security protocols into the OS. Google has touted the notebooks security features since debuting the products in 2011.

This isn't the first time Acer has balked at Microsoft's corporate strategy. Last year, the firm presented some harsh words for the Surface tablet.