Its Italian chief executive, Gianfranco Lanci, will leave the company immediately due to differences over the strategy needed to counter the runaway success of the tablet market, which has cannibalised Acer's profits.
Chairman J.T. Wang taking over in an acting capacity, Acer said in a statement.
Acer, one of Taiwan's best-known brands, has been a dominant force in the PC business, particularly in the low-cost notebook segment. It said it will now focus on the tablet sector as well, an area where it has been slow in gaining traction against rival products such as Apple's hot-selling iPad.
"The industry has changed too much, that's why our successful formula in the past has to be adjusted," Wang told a news conference announcing the change.
"We will not keep talking about being the world's No.1 notebook maker anymore. Rather we need to a leader in mobile devices. We'll pursue brand value and profit and then we'll talk about quantity."
