Asus cuts smaller Eee PCs and netbook prices

 

Gallery

By Matthew Sparkes

Posted on 3 Nov 2008 at 11:52

Asus will phase out the smaller Eee PC models and introduce a $200 model for the US market, says the company's president.

The company's current 7 and 9in models will be slowly discontinued and not replaced, Jerry Shen told the Digitimes, leaving larger models as the staple of the line-up, such as the recently released Asus Eee PC 1002HA.

A spokesman for Asus's UK arm told PC Pro that she wasn't aware of any plans to cut the smaller models, but admitted that she hadn't been informed of any upcoming models with a screen smaller than 10in.

Despite this boost in standard specification, the company is expected to continue aiming for the budget end of the notebook sector by releasing a $200 Eee PC netbook for the US market.

Although Asus kick-started the netbook phenomenon with the Eee PC, it looks set to be overtaken in sales by Acer. The company expects to ship 6 million Aspire One models this year, surpassing Asus' expectations of five million Eee PC sales.