Acer, a company traditionally known for computer production, has branched out in a unique bid to capture the minds of cyclists. Xplova, a company situated in the cycling niche, produces hardware and software that allows cyclists to track their activity through GPS technology.
Acer CEO, Jason Chen, announced last week that Acer had purchased the company and has begun to develop a brand of software that will bring both company’s strengths to the forefront.
“Acer will integrate Xplova’s hardware, cloud computing platform, community service capabilities and industry knowhow to help expand its reach further into the sports industry,” according to an Acer press release.
The software will enable users to track performance, navigate with turn-by-turn directions and share activity logs with friends via social media. Xplova is based in Taiwan and already has 15,000 members globally who have uploaded over 200,000 pieces of data as well as 52,000 planned routes.
Users will enter their details via the Tour.Xplova website and their data will be stored and assembled into graphics that promote improvement and maps that illustrate real-time positioning of where friends that have been connected are riding.
Acer seemed to suffer dramatically when the invention of tablets hit the market. Prior to tablets, Acer was one of the leading small-computer brands in the world. However, since then the company has seen a decline in popularity due to iPads and Surface Tablets dominating the market.
Acer begun breaking into the sport-related market in 2014 to try and diversify their range of products and combat the decline, and the purchase of Xplova is a step in the right direction. With Xplova being a relatively small company, it is believed that there is no great financial risk with Acer’s investment, but has limitless boundaries in terms of what the two companies can achieve.
This acquisition will allow Xplova to benefit from Acer’s globally renowned reputation and marketing channel, while Acer will benefit from Xplova’s expertise in cycling technology and unique cloud platform.