The Iconia was first announced at an Acer press conference in New York City on 23 November 2010.

[1] The device was released in January 2011 in the United States, and earlier in Europe, though the exact dates are not known.

[2][3] The device weighs 6.1 pounds (2.8 kg)[1] and is equipped with Windows 7, and a proprietary Acer operating system for the touchscreen interface.

[1] Initial reactions to the device were mixed, with both CNET and Engadget commenting positively on Iconia's touch-screen software, though the keyboard was criticized and some features were considered to be "perhaps an unnecessary visual gloss.

Proper support of the second screen was integrated in the 3.2-rc6 version of the Linux kernel,[7] making it available for the 3.2 release in December 2011.