Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Android device makers chase Apple with cloud strategies

Acer and Lenovo lay out cloud strategies for their Android devices and Windows PCs at CES

The importance of bundling services and software with mobile devices is finally resonating with Android device makers as they compete with Apple, and some of them outlined their cloud strategies at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Acer and Lenovo, which make Android-based tablets and smartphones and Windows PCs, will offer cloud and hosting services that make it easier for people to synchronize and access content and documents across PCs, smartphones and tablets.

Acer will load its devices with AcerCloud, a hosting service on which users can push documents and files that can be shared across its tablets, smartphones and PCs. Lenovo provided some details about its upcoming cloud service, which will allow content and files on its TVs, tablets, smartphones and PCs to be accessed and shared through private or public clouds.

The companies are following a mobile device blueprint laid down by Apple, which wraps software and services with its wildly successful iPad and iPhone products. Apart from Amazon, Android device makers are mostly hardware makers and have so far struggled to offer a cohesive set of software and services to complement tablets and smartphones, analysts said.

Lenovo and Acer already provide a full range of hardware but lack the full range of applications and services for consumers, said technology industry analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights and Strategy.

"I expect they will fill in those gaps in the next 18 months through a combination of partnerships and in-house development," Moorhead said.

Personal cloud services like Apple's iCloud are also "stickies" that help retain customers when hardware sales are weak, Moorhead said. Building out monetizable personal cloud services are crucial to Lenovo's and Acer's future.

"Lenovo and Acer see this and recognize they must ramp up their capabilities," Moorhead said.

Though desirable, a cloud offering is not an absolute necessity for hardware vendors, especially given the cost and complexity of mounting such an operation and keeping it up and running, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

"But with the right plan and investments and, perhaps, partners, it's possible for a vendor to use cloud services to its long-term advantage," King said.

Apple represents the lottery all vendors would love to win, but it may take a lot of effort for Android device makers to catch up, considering the fragmentation of the hardware and software community, King said.

"The characteristics that have helped drive Android community's massive success -- namely its sheer diversity and diffusion -- also means that few individual vendors have the size or scope to truly take on a homogenous entity like Apple," King said.

Differentiating cloud services is key for the Android community particularly because the hardware features tend to be common.

"Cloud services can provide new, ongoing revenue streams that are particularly attractive to vendors of devices with ever thinner profit margins," King said.

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Acer, Amazon, Apple, Consumer Electronics, Lenovo

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: Acer, Android tablets, CES, hardware systems, Lenovo, services, software, tablets
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Oracle BPM Suite 11g: BPM without Barriers
    Over the years vendor specialists built tools to simplify a subset of the overall complex process like workflow, or enterprise application integration. Business process management suite software introduced the promise of a comprehensive solution to manage all enterprise processes and to do so with greater efficiency. Read on.
    Learn more »
  • Why Hackers have Turned to Malicious JavaScript Attacks
    Website attacks have become a serious business proposition. In the past, hackers may have infected websites to gain notoriety or just to prove they could—but today, it’s all about the money. Reaching unsuspecting users through the web is easy and effective. Hackers now use sophisticated techniques—like injecting inline JavaScript—to spread malware through the web. Learn about the threat of malicious JavaScript attacks, and how they work. Understand how cybercriminals make money with these types of attacks and why IT managers should be vigilant.
    Learn more »
  • New Mobility Requires a New Network Strategy
    Computing has gone through several major transitions through the ages, each of which raised the value of the network and dramatically lowered the cost of computing. In the years after its birth in the mainframe era, the computing industry shifted to client/server and then Internet computing. Today, we are beginning yet another major computing revolution: the shift to mobile computing. This revolution already allows us to carry mini computers, called “smartphones,” in our pockets. This shift will drive down the cost of computing even further and drive up the value of the network, forever changing its role in organisations. Read on.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.