Acer, the Taiwanese computer giant, is well known for its desktop and laptop computers, and computer peripherals. The company’s new goal, however, is unrelated to their mainstream business – they reportedly want to become one of the largest manufacturers of mobile phone handsets by the 2012; and additionally, they want to be one of the top five manufacturers. While that is a worthwhile goal for any organization, Acer has yet to confirm their rumored Android release this year. The company also acknowledged that to achieve this self-imposed target in 2012, they would have to sell upwards of 20 million mobile phone handsets in one year.

Speculation on the Internet has been rife, and it is quite possible that the company will be releasing an Android handset sometime this year.

“We have not made any formal announcement of an Android-based device, although it’s likely that we’ll have one in 2009,” Aymar de Lencquesaing commented in a television interview today from Singapore. “We intend to have devices that will take advantage of multiple platforms.” Aymar de Lencquesaing is the head of the mobile phone product division at Acer.

Earlier this year, Acer launched four new mobile phone models that were showcased at the Mobile World Congress 2009, in Barcelona. Not many were particularly impressed with these Tempo phones, as they were running an older version of Windows Mobile, the 6.1, when the latest 6.5 had just been unveiled by Microsoft. Additionally, upgrades to the newer version of the operating system seem to be very unlikely as the phones were bereft of the Start key. The hardware Start key is vitally important to the design of Windows Mobile 6.5, so putting two and two together, Tempo users are stuck with 6.1.

The company had actually announced the release of eight new mobile phone handsets, and the four Tempos were showcased next to four switched off cell phones, which incidentally looked much better. These handsets were released today in Asian markets, and were all running Windows Mobile.

The four Tempo handsets and four Windows Mobile handsets, namely the E1, L1, F1, and C1, nicely round up the tally that was initially announced in the beginning of the year. However, there was a rumor leaked that Acer has two ‘secret’ models planned for this year as well. One of these surprises must be the Android mobile phone handset, and is probably going to release sometime in September.

The mysterious ‘secret’ handset will probably rejoice in the name A1, possibly to fit in with the other newly released handsets. This rumor is courtesy the Phillippine Business Mirror, however the veracity of these statements cannot be verified as the source was not named in the article.

The aesthetic appeal of the mobile phone remains a mystery; one merely hopes it is not unwieldy like one of the ‘leaked’ phones that Acer had some time ago. Judging by the name it has been given, it is quite probable that the handset will be a sleek model like its brothers.