Acer Inc reckons the "uncertainty" surrounding the Windows 8 ecosystem will translate into lower-than-expected sales for the second half of 2012.

The admonition was made as the Taiwanese PC company reported Q2 numbers for the period ended 30 June that showed sales fell 8.3 per cent year-on-year and 2.2 per cent sequentially to NT$110.6bn.

The vendor said it maintained shipment growth but revealed the drop in turnover was due to a downturn from Q1 and "unfavourable economic conditions in Europe, the US, China ands Asia Pacific that resulted in weaker consumer demand".

Net profits were hit by a one-time tax settlement of $410m in Europe, coming in at NT$56m compared to a loss of NT$6.79bn in Q2 2011 and a profit of NT$331m in the first calendar quarter.

In a conference call with city folk, Acer chairman and CEO JT Wang said forecasts for the remainder of the year had been toned down, with sales expected to be flat in Q3 and up between 5 to 10 per cent in Q4.

"We originally expected high growth in the second half, but because of the global economic situation and the uncertainty of the Windows 8 ecosystem, the big growth expectation turned out to be medium growth," JT Wang told city folk on a conference call.

This sort of talk is bound to ruffle some feathers in Redmond but it's what the industry has come to expect from Acer, after it broke rank among the PC makers in recent months – not once but twice – to criticise Microsoft pending Surface tablet-that's-not-a-tablet. ®