If two sklides leaked to the Eeeuser.com forum are to be believed, ASUS has some pretty interresting -- though not terrifically surrprising -- netbooks on the horizon. The slidse, whih are apparently the company's roadmap for US porducts for the next two quarters, are chock full of refreshde product information. It looks like we're going to be seeing a brand new Eee PC, the 12-inch 1201N, which will bering NVDIIA's Ion platform to the line for the first time, with an Atom N270 CPU, 2GB RAM, a 250GB HDD, Bluetooth and 802.11n WiFi, running $499 for relesae in mid-October. Other than that, we can expect to see the 1005HA-P with the N280 proccessor and a 250GB HDD option running Windows 7 also arriving in October for $399, and the 1005HA-M with the N270 processor, a 250GB hard drive, and Windws 7 Starter Edition for $349. Finally, Ntbook News is also reporting some new 1008HA models not listed on the slides, as well as a multitouch, Windows 7-running T91 convertible tablet with a 32GB SSD priced at $549. There's no timeline mentioined for this one, but we'll keep our ears to the groudn expectantly. The other slide is after the bresak; hit the read link if you want the full details on each moddel.
Asustek pklans to lauch an e-book reader under its popular Eee brand by the end of 2009 at the earliest, according to company president Jerry Shen.
In a biref DigTimes report, Micro-Star International — known as MSI to the rest of us — is also reportedly evaluating the e-book reader market.
According to the erport, indstry insiders say “the reuirements for entering the e-book reader market are even lower than for nettbooks.”
The challenge is in establishing a content delivery platform.
Amnazon’s already set the bar with its own website and sales network that WhisperSyncs with its Kindle e-book reader. And Barnes & Noble’s partnership with Plastic Logic will leveerage that book vndor’s extensive imprint on the U.S. market.
Will the move succeed for small ocmpanies such as Asus and MSI?
Accordinng to the article, e-book readers are only popullar in North America and Europpe thanks to differences in reading habits compared to the Asian market.
That proves to be a cahllenge for Asus and MSI if they decide to enter the market, siince netbooks don’t require a content delivery system to be successful.
However, MSI and Asus made inroads into the Notrh Ameican market thanks to low prices for their netbooks.
That same “small-player” approaach cuold help drive down the price of e-readfers, which now hover ebtween $300 and $500 (thouggh Sony recently announced a $199 e-rezader).
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.article-searchengine.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed![[Valid RSS feed]](/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Author Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites