Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) expects its annual notebook and netbook computer shipments to total around 12 million units next year, up from 11 million units this year despite the global economic slowdown and sluggish consumer demand, a company official said yesterday.
The specific forecast will be released in December, Jerry Shen (沈振來) Asustek’s chief executive officer said in a media briefing yesterday.
The company’s notebook sales are expected to reach between 6.2 million and 6.3 million units, Shen said, adding that the Taipei-based company wants to expand its customer base and enter into the middle and high-end notebook market early next year.
The official’s remark was made after the company yesterday introduced the S101 Eee model, a slim laptop only 1.8cm thick and weighing less than 1kg.
Celebrating the Eee PC’s first anniversary yesterday, Asustek is confident that this S101 model priced at US$699 per unit will sell between 40,000 and 50,000 units in the first month, Shen said.
S101 will be available in the Asia Pacific region, specifically in Taiwan and Hong Kong, today. It is expected to be in stores and retailers in Europe by the middle of the month.
The retail price for S101 is NT$19,988 in Taiwan.
Asustek created a market for low-priced mini-laptops when it launched its first netbook Eee PC last October. Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell Inc and Acer Inc (宏碁) soon followed with their own low-cost laptops.
Shen also confirmed the company’s strategy to implement multi-brands to cater to different market groups.
The Eee brand offers low-end PCs priced between US$200 and US$1,000, while the Asus brand will target high-end PCs above US$1,000.
Shen said he does not fear that the two product groups under the same corporate umbrella would cannibalize each other, as the two types of products meet different computing needs.
He said computer shoppers look first at screen size in determining their purchase decisions. In North America and Europe, 80 percent of sales go towards 14-inch, 15-inch and 17-inch laptops.
“Anything under 10 inches we call a netbook; anything above 11 inches are notebooks. So far the netbook pie is bigger than we imagined,” he said.
Eee has sold more than 4 million netbooks worldwide in one year, he said.
“Eee’s new addition, the S101, is in the Eee family, but its added-value and innovative technology really make it a mid-tier product,” Shen said.
“With these two segments covered, we want to venture into the high-end market and you’ll start seeing new product offerings on the market early next year,” he said.
Other than netbooks, the Eee family also incorporates basic low-priced desktops.
The EeeTop touch screen desktop has also sold well in Europe. In August and last month, over 100,000 units of the EeeTop were sold globally, with sales coming primarily from Europe, with a bright outlook for this month.
Rather than just manufacturing PCs, over the last couple of months, the computer maker has also been focusing more on creating internal software to be installed on their computers that offers an unprecedented user experience.
An example falls under the concept of cloud computing. A person can take photos, send it to Asustek’s online storage system and then designate who gets access to this photo library.
“This bonus software will set Asus apart from other competitors and give us an edge in providing more than anyone else on the market,” Shen said.
Asustek shares closed 0.52 percent lower at NT$57.00 yesterday. The stock is down 33.5 percent for the year.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS