ASUS whittles back Eee PC orders as tablets take over
updated 10:35 am EDT, Thu August 4, 2011
ASUS drops Eee PC orders, sees 2m Eee Pads in 2011
Part suppliers revealed that ASUS was gradually scaling down its Eee PC business. With a surfeit of Eee Pad Transformer demand and the crash in netbooks, ASUS was shifting more of its attention to tablets. Production run estimates for the Transformer given to Digitimes had up to 800,000 of the Android designs shipping in the summer, helping contribute to a total of two million for the whole year.
A further lift might come from the Transformer 2, which might pack a quad-core NVIDIA Kal-El (Tegra 3), along with the seven-inch Eee Pad MeMO. Rumors have emerged recently that one or both might be moved into early next year.
ASUS faces a balancing act for the next several months or more. Having made itself overdependent on netbooks and facing a drop off after the iPad and other tablets came about, it's believed in a race to increase its tablet sales before the netbook falloff becomes too severe. ASUS' regular notebook sales are reportedly flat and may already have it reducing orders, leaving tablets as its only truly successful category.
Its frequent Taiwanese rival, Acer, has had trouble negotiating its own transition and has lowered Iconia Tab expectations.
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Don't do it!
With a surfeit of Eee Pad Transformer demand and the crash in netbooks, ASUS was shifting more of its attention to tablets.
Oh. Yeah. Great idea #1.
A further lift might come from the Transformer 2, which might pack a quad-core NVIDIA Kal-El (Tegra 3), along with the seven-inch Eee Pad MeMO.
Right. Mash 2 OS-es into a single device. Great idea #2.
Its frequent Taiwanese rival, Acer, has had trouble negotiating its own transition and has lowered Iconia Tab expectations.
I was wondering if/when the author would mention Acer. They've already hit the iPad wall. Now it's ASUS's turn.