French telecom and consumer electronics company Archos has completed a 25 percent staff reduction programme in reaction to the iPad’s dominance of the high-end tablet market. Archos, which sells tablets, phones and even mini drones, entered the tablet market with low-cost Android products and was then challenged by the Amazon Kindle and other e-book readers, along with phablets like the Google Nexus, writes Les Echos.
Archos’s new CEO, Loic Poirier, expects the company to return to growth in the second half and for over 20 percent of revenue to come from smartphones. It will launch its Gen 11 tablet in September, costing 35-40 percent less than the iPad, he said. New tablet products to be unveiled at IFA include the 101 Child Pad and the GamePad.
In mobiles, Archos targets handsets sold without a contract, which consumers buy with inexpensive Sim-only plans, with no contract tie-in period. These make up for 45 percent of the French market and around EUR 1 billion of value, according to Les Echos.
Archos, which introduced the Platinum smartphone range in May, will announce a range of connected objects such as a smartwatch using an in-house operating system compatible with iOS and Android and other products to address home, leisure and sport applications.
