Acer confirms it's banking on Android to power new netbook

Acer has confirmed that it will launch a netbook powered by Google's Android OS before the end of the year, and will also produce work on a smartphone powered by the same system in the same timeframe.

During the Computex show in Taipei, the Taiwanese manufacturer, which is just a little behind market leader Asus in netbook sales, has confirmed that it will soon join the Open Handset Alliance, a group of manufacturers willing to support the development of Android which currently includes LG, HTC, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Asus and Intel, amongst others.

It seems that Google's OS might have just what it needs to displace Windows XP, the standard choice for netbook manufacturers.

To start with, the open-source Android is cheaper as there are no licence fees to pay, and almost infinitely customisable to suit the needs of different hardware.  It's also a lot more lightweight than any of Microsoft's offerings, which will help it deal with the limited resources available on a netbook.

Of course, Acer isn't abandoning Microsoft, with the launch of Windows 7 around the corner set to bring with it plenty of improvements.

Android, though, developed from the ground up with web applications in mind, will soon have to face up to other Linux-based netbook platforms.