Despite what he said back in August, Asus CEO Jerry Shen confirmed this week that they will in fact be releasing a smartbook product sometime during 1Q2010.
This is a dramatic about face from what was stated previously, I wonder is Asus perhaps underestimated the demand for small, lightweight, Android based products when they made their previous statements. Mr. Shen also said that Asus R&D has been working quite hard, and we should expect to see quite a few new products from them in the next 6 months. Asustek’s first smartbook is expected to retail for about $180.
[via Shanzai]
You can always expect plenty of products from Asus within a 6 month period. They’re pretty much known for their incredible market saturation. Where they have products, I swear it’s like at least every other product out of the entire pool of brands.
Not that I’m complaining. I love it. I love Asus. The first monitor I ever bought was an Asus PG221H. Amazing monitor, although the screen was a little too fragile and it broke about a year later. T_T Wish I knew if it could be repaired, but it’s such a specific monitor… bah. more T_T
What model are those in the pics by the way? I thought 1005HA at first, but maybe 1008HA? or something entirely different? They look a bit different anyways…
It’s the snapdragon that they showed off in August
Android 2.0 has matured enough that Asus could probably deliver a good, low cost desktop experience on a smartbook. I think the key, to making it attractive, is to enable access to the thousands of apps in the Android Market (which Acer’s netbook lacks).
Ubuntu also supports ARM, so they could even provide a dual-boot Android/Ubuntu configuration.
Slap a swivel screen, some page turn buttons and the Pixel Qi LCD screen. And Barnes & Nobel for Android. Bam best ebook ever.
No, not Android. Please, don’t put Android on it.
Moblin on a Debian base would be much better suited.