The whole enchilada
This perceived high barrier to entry seems to be one of the key strategic differentiators Acer has identified for itself as it seeks to become a player in the smartphone market.
Not many companies will be in a position to compete effectively in both the PC and smartphone markets, but de Lencquesaing thinks there is an advantage in being able to do just that.
"We have a complete family of mobile devices from notebook to smartphone," said de Lencquesaing. "A key pain-point in many surveys is synchronisation of data. There are solutions, such as the cloud, but consumer behaviour is getting in the way of them.
"Any Acer smartphone can sync with any Acer PC. As people increasingly use multiple devices, syncing will become more important. It's harder for a handset company to move into PCs because of the consolidation of the PC market, but you will see more companies trying to offer the whole enchilada."
So, if he thinks it will be difficult for handset makers to offer ‘the whole enchilada', does that mean the real competitive threat will come from the other big PC OEMs? "Smartphone doesn't seem to be a great area of focus for HP and we've yet to see where the Dell rumours are headed," said de Lencquesaing. "We have learned to be lean and mean. This kind of rigour can only help us in the phone segment."