Ultrabook book prices are dropping. A report surfaced a few days back sourcing supply chain partners that stated ultrabooks should decline in price by 5-10% early next year. Now, Acer’s president is on record saying he expects even deeper price reductions and at least models from his company will cost between $799-$899 by the second half of 2012. Company president Jim Wong even stated that he expects prices to hit $499 in 2013.
The low prices, he stated, will be in part thanks to the uptick in ultrabook shipments. Right now Acer ships 100,000 ultrabooks a month but sees a future where that number is between 250,000 and 300,000 units. Acer hopes to hit that goal by the end of 2011 but that could be tough with the current prices. However, once the company hits mass shipments, prices should organically fall even farther.
The first half of 2012 will make or break ultrabooks. Most PC makers will be shipping their second generation models en mass and will be looking for these models to perform well. If they show any sign of faltering, expect at least a few companies to pull back, which will likely cause the entire ultrabook movement to collapse like a human pyramid topped with a fat kid.