Update: 7″ and 8.9″ Asus Eee PCs will continue to be manufactured.
A few weeks ago, Asustek’s CEO Jerry Shen discussed a $250 Eee PC netbook being launched sometime in 2009. Shen has since lowered that pricing, saying they expect to launch an Eee PC netbook for $200 in 2009.
DigiTimes published an article going over Asustek’s financial performance this year, including mention that in the third quarter, Asus Eee PC shipments hit 1.7 million units, and will hit 1.8 million units this quarter, allowing Asustek to hit 5 million units in 2008 (a goal they had set earlier this year). This doesn’t just include netbooks, there are some Eee PC-branded nettops, however the majority were netbooks (nettops were launched later in the year).
These figures were mentioned:
– Shen believes Asustek will get 30% of the 2009 netbook market (around 6 – 7.5 million)
– They believe the 2009 netbook market will see 20 – 25 million netbooks produced
– Hard Drive-based netbooks account for 70% of total netbooks shipped, with SSDs hitting 30%
– Eee PCs with Windows XP Home versus Linux-based netbooks is also around 7:3
This was really interesting: Shen believes that 7″ and 8.9″ Eee PCs will be phased out of the market in the future, in favor of 10″ models.
Read: DigiTimes