Acer to expand into televisions, electronic books

Acer Inc., the world's third-largest maker of personal computers, will expand into televisions and electronic books within five years as the PC industry slows, founder Stan Shih said.

"The PC actually is a mature industry," Shih, 64, said in an interview in his Taipei office. "PC extending to TV, of course, there's room."

The Taiwanese company will pit itself against Samsung Electronics Co. and Kindle-maker Amazon.com Inc., which lead the markets for TVs and digital readers. PC sales are forecast to drop for the first time since 2001.