ASUS, maker of the popular Eee PC range of netbooks that arguably pioneered the category, will phase out the production of nearly all of its 8.9-inch Eee PC netbooks, DigiTimes has reported on Thursday. The news came from the company's Asia-Pacific division president, Benson Lin, who says the move is due to the growing popularity and consumer demand for 10-inch models that will become the focus at ASUS.

In 2009, 95 percent of all Eee PCs built will feature a 10-inch screen, with the remaining 5 percent being 7-inch models sold as subsidized units via wireless data providers, Lin says. ASUS is relatively well prepared to offer users a wider range of 10-inch Eee PCs, as it is readying to deploy both a version powered by Intel's new 1.66GHz Atom chip, the 1000HE, and a 1000HG version equipped with WiMAX mobile broadband capabilities.