I was Digging as I usually do when I’m extremely bored, and I came across a front pager about why an assortment of technology companies dislike Asustek. Normally I wouldn’t waste my time pointing out articles that only focuses on drawing in traffic, but this time I have to. The article is a very ridiculous call from a person who is supposed to be informative, not misleading them.
The article can be found on Datamation, and is titled The Most Hated Company In The PC Industry. To sum it up the writer discusses how Asustek and Intel are now chums, owing to the success of the EEEPC. He also states that the new technology is negatively effecting companies like Microsoft, Apple, Palm and Dell.
Firstly i would like to say the EeePC will have a minimal effect on Microsoft. The EeePC supports Windows XP and has even been seen running Vista. Xandos is a very powerful OS, and is known to be user friendly and intuitivel, but it has been around for years and hasn’t affected Microsoft’s OS market share in the slightest. Also, if you didn’t already know, Microsoft and Xandos have a collaboration, meaning it would be to Microsofts advantage if Xandos was to take market share from other Linux distro’s.
In the article the writer compares the price of an Apple iPod Touch (16GB model) to the 8GB EeePC, and concludes that the EeePC is slightly cheaper ($US69). Considering the devices are completely different and designed for such different functions, comparing them is just crazy. To even debate the comparison is a waste of the readers time.
It is true that Dell and other PC manufactures, who have a series of flash drive based notebooks, could be affected by the EeePC. That is, if their notebooks had not been designed for a completely different market. Ultra Mobile Personal Computers are usually designed to be used without a desk or while standing. Wrap your hands around the EeePC and you will quickly discover it is merely a tiny laptop. Examples of true UMPC’s are the Samsung Q1, Sony UX Series and Gigabyte U60, which all feature a QWERTY keyboard, and are engineered to be used on the move.
To further elaborate on Apple’s position, consideration must be given to their pre-established advantages over Asus. Apple have this thing called MacOSX which doesn’t natively run on anything but an Apple computer. Apple also get very good deals on NAND memory due to the fact they use over a quarter of the NAND memory produced worldwide. Apple also have this little program called iTunes, and does that run on Linux natively? No unfortunately it doesn’t .
Palm had to cancel their Foleo, not because of the Asus EeePC (though it could have been part reason), but because the Foleo had no way of reaching the hype that Palm had created. Match that with their ageing Treo series of smart phones, and financial difficulties and you get a cancelled product. Palm should hate themselves if anyone, because for a long time they were the best at what they did.
To me it seems that none of the companies in the article will be threatened by the EeePC. If anything Asus should be thanked for discovering another niche market. No doubt by the middle of the year you will hear about EeePC competitors that are all similarly priced and spec’ed.
The companies who could hold a grudge against Asus are Nokia and OLPC. Nokia have their N810, which is probably the closest thing to an EeePC (when you consider features and price). The OLPC should also be envious as the EeePC does more for the same price or less (though the OLPC is more technically advanced).
Intel and Asus have had a relationship for a long time, but Asus also has relationships with many of Intel’s competitors. Also, Intel have nothing to lose, because all their competitors (with the exception of OLPC and Nokia) use Intel insides to do a very similar thing.
Mike Elgan, if you’re reading this, I would like you to know your other articles are fantastic and you are usually right on the mark with your conclusions. Had you done a little more research behind the scenes I am sure you would have come to the same conclusion I have.
For the original article, click over to the Datamation Website.
Since I’ve been gone we have seen the OLPC go up in price, we have seen the Palm Foreo shown off and then disappear, the VIA NanoBook impress and now we have the big news of something which sits between the lot of them. The device I’m talking about is the Asus EeePC.
It isn’t the latest news, and has been talked about for a few months now, but lets have a quick run over of what it is. Inside you are looking at something which should be quicker then your OLPC, with a 900Mhz Intel processor, integrated Intel GMA 900 graphics processor, 7-inch display, 256 or 512 MB DDR2-400 (upgradeable to 1GB), 2, 4, 8 or 16 GB flash Solid state drive, Hi-Definition Audio, 5200 mAh 4 cell battery (different numbers everywhere on life, but about 3-4 hours), PCI Express Mini Card connector, 10/100 Mbit Ethernet, 56k modem, 802.11b/g wireless LAN and a SD card slot for expandability. That is only the top of what it is capable of with some variants of the notebook to feature a built in web camera and possibly bigger screens in the future (10-inch). The whole ultralight weighs a measly 890 grams, making it light enough to keep on you most of the time.
The software part of the unit runs on a special edition of Xandros, which is a Linux based OS originally designed for simplicity and to mimic some parts of the windows environment. Asus have also said that it will be compatible with Windows XP, though that will be a extra cost to the user.
The questionable part is the reality of this unit. There has been tests run on and reviews by some websites about this unit (mostly positive), but the release dates are constantly changing and the specs as well. Even the price has gone up by around $US70 putting it at around $US269. Even those facts are being requestioned everyday!
Now I have to ask why? I understand it is cheap and does quite a bit, but then again it lacks quite a bit as well and considering the OLPC can do almost everything it can do in theory and at the same time help the poor, why would Asus release a notebook at could possibly compete with it? Is it a greedy move by Asus or just a smart one? Will be a great side kick to users who want a small cheap secondary device to travel with or Will it be to small and to under powered to be any use to anyone?
Now it is time for predictions. I expect this to be shunned by a lot of pro OLPC supporters, and for a lot of public releases from Asus saying it is the same but different to the OLPC. I expect it to be released later then we all expected (why rush? There is still no competition). I expect it to have a great initial release selling lots, but later on considered a gadget unless you upgrade to the more expensive mode. Seeing Apple and Asus have a tight relationship, expect an Apple variant of this notebook (more expensive and shiny).
For now that is all I will rant on about this product, but expect an update when I know more about the subject at hand.
For more info, hop skip and jump over to either the Asus EeePC Website, Wikipedia EeePC Page or the EeeUser Website.