Earlier this week, the Asus Eee PC roadmap was leaked by accident (or not by accident, you never know in this industry).
Asustek’s President Jerry Shen has come out and discussed some of the Eee PC models seen in the roadmap (although he didn’t name them by model).
He confirmed what many of us have believed for a while, that Asustek Computer is going after many different market segments and many different price points. This is due in part to their belief that Intel’s forecast for demand of upwards of one billion netbooks and Mobile Internet Devices (MID) is correct. Shen believes that in the third quarter of this year, that Eee PC shipments will meet or exceed 1.5 – 1.6 million units, putting them on track for five million units.
It’s also due to their confidence that from here on out, Intel is going to provide a steady stream of Intel Atom N720 CPUs (as well as the upcoming dual-core Atoms) based on demand.
Asustek is adding two new categories to the netbook field this year, “Ultimate” and “Pro Fashion” (or at least two new categories in Asustek’s lineups).