After publicly warning Microsoft to "think twice" about the release of its surface tablet, Acer CEO JT Wang has clarified and tempered his statements about the company, according to DigiTimes. The article quotes him as saying that "Microsoft's actions will have a rather negative impact on the long-established PC ecosystem," but that "[Acer] has no intentions of quitting the Windows-based tablet PC market, and is aggressively developing related devices."

Microsoft's move to participate directly in the tablet space has naturally incurred some doubt about whether existing Windows 8 hardware partners will be able to compete with the company's duo of Surface tablets. Wang said that Microsoft is "currently looking for solutions such as creating a price gap to minimize the [Surface's] negative impact on other vendors' product lineups," and that, if the Surface is priced at $499-599 rather than $199, "the effects will be a lot smaller."

Despite Wang's claim that he's the most optimistic Acer CEO in regard to Windows 8's potential, it's clear that there is some lingering distrust for Microsoft. Whether this will result in Acer focusing on lower-end Android tablets will depend on where Microsoft decides to place the Surface in the market, but it's likely that Acer has little interest in directly competing with the now-vertically-integrated software (and hardware) giant.