At first glance, the PC market is pretty darn mature. But walk into a Target retail store in New York or visit a computer retailer in Melbourne, Australia and you’ll see the start of a new revolution — driven by Asustek Computer (a.k.a. Asus).
Sure, Asus is well-known for its Eee PC, a Netbook that runs either Linux or Windows XP. Demand for Netbooks is skyrocketing, and the sub-notebook market represents the fastest growing segment of the PC industry.
But Asus seems to be more than a one-hit wonder. Consider these six rather impressive facts:
- Apparently, The Wall Street Journal ranks Asus among the top Taiwanese companies in terms of product quality.
- Three out of 10 Asus Netbooks are shipped with Linux, proving that PC companies with guts can disrupt established markets.
- There’s chatter about Asus introducing $200 systems in 2009.
- Asus is preparing a smart phone based on Google Android. Open hardware coupled with open software could give Apple’s iPhone a run for its money, The VAR Guy believes.
- During a recent trip to Australia, The VAR Guy estimates 30 percent of the notebooks he saw in local airports (Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane) were from Asus.
- Australia resellers such as GeekCentral say Asus systems are flying off their shelves.
Alas, there’s no money in reselling hardware these days. But there is a global channel angle here, folks: Asus systems (and rival Netbooks) could emerge as popular endpoints for managed service providers and WiFi service providers.
And Asus will most certainly give Linux, Google Android and open source a lift along the way.
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Great PC company? Hardly? Smart, opportunistic company? Yes.
I certainly hope they DO come out with a $200 netbook. I was about to get one of the eees (by mail) when I happened on one at a store and found the keyboard just too small to cope with.
But as I’ve waited for the larger models to come out I’ve noticed prices seem to be going UP not down. Not to mention they are moving away from some of the features that made them most attractive to me: solid state memory, Linux OS being the main two.
Fortunately I don’t really NEED a laptop as my old one still works like new. But am hopeful that by the time it does go bad I’ll be able to replace it for a tenth the price.
Mac Beach: The VAR Guy’s kids have an Eee PC with 7-inch screen. Keyboard is tiny and mouse pointer is tricky. But it’s great for the kids and nice to have a WiFi device (almost like an appliance) that can float around the kitchen and family room.
Like you, The VAR Guy looks forward to slightly larger keyboards.
Victor: The key word is next. Asustek may not be a great company now but it is heading the right way. What you call smart and opportunistic looks to me like a company that reacts quickly to the market.
Mac Beach: If I understood correctly the other day Asustek plans in due course to phase out the 7 and 9 inch Eee models in favour of the 10 inch, which has the better keyboard. Another example of a company that appears keen to move rapidly to suit the needs of its customers. Definitely a company to watch in my view.
The small keyboard on the Eee 701 isn’t really bad once you get used to it, I can type equally fast on it and my desktop keyboard. My 701 runs Debian and boots in 20 seconds to LXDE, runs great. The whole point of netbooks is the small size and solid state drive, making them bigger then they become just small laptops.
Craigevil: Your point about fast boot times is undeniable. These Netbooks boot super-fast and put some expensive Windows laptops to shame. But the Eee 701 keyboard is tricky for The VAR Guy to master. His fat (weight challenged?) fingers don’t help the situation.
As a free software user, I must say that the fact that they put embedded Linux with Splashtop on all their mobos a great step forward that demanded guts.
Of course, if those Intel guys can reproduce their 5 second bootup demo for all Gnu-Linux distros to use, then Splashtop will be moot but I still give them credit for daring to think out of the box.
THere wont be a new 200$ netbook model I believe but rather they will concentrate on 10 and 11 inch models for regular price whcih will probably lower the prices of the 9inch models.
I bought an Acer One when it came out at 377$ and I predicted it would be around 250$ for Xmas.
Right now it is at 289-299$ so I have no doubt that it will reach 250$ for Xmas.
As newer models arrive, older ones will necessarily drop.
By the time the 2nd gen netbooks arrive, we will have a few 200-250$ netbook.
Rob: The VAR Guy welcomes your perspectives. But the real Rob Enderle may want his name back at some point.
Isn’t Ausutek the company who manufacture all of Apple’s Macbooks and Macbook Pros as well?
If the VARGuy can’t master the Asus EeePC maybe he should get himself a Dell M1330 or a Mini 9. With Ubuntu and an SSD installed the M1330 is like having a grown up netbook. The 9 cell battery from which Linux can squeeze a very decent 6 hours of life is also nice. It’s not too heavy either.