Asus Blames iPad for Lackluster Netbook Sales
Asus Blames iPad for Lackluster Netbook Sales
Posted 08/16/2010 at 5:48am
| by Paul Lilly
8
Comments
Print
The big question mark surrounding tablets is whether or not this emerging market will eat into netbook sales, or if the two segments can co-exist. If Asus' recent netbook performance is any indication, we may have our answer.
Asus only managed to sell 1.5 million netbooks in the second quarter, a drop of 100,000 units over the first quarter and short of the company's expectations. As a result, Asus president and CEO Jerry Shen recently told investors that Asus had to downward adjust its target shipments for the third quarter, which he blames on competition from Apple's iPad.
It's been somewhat of a rough year all around for Asus. Along with disappointing netbook sales, decreased shipments of motherboards and traditional notebooks have taken a toll on the company's financial performance, which declined during the second quarter.
What's interesting about this is that the tablet game is largely a one-man show, but will soon become crowded as 2010 comes to a close. Is this the beginning of a trend?
More like this
8
Comments
Comments are closed on this article
Keith E. Whisman
August 16, 2010 at 2:41pm
The whole idea of a netbook is in it's name.. Net as in Internet. The idea is to offer a lite weight, portable, small, and laptop with great battery life for internet connectivity on the go. Not really designed for productivity though the convertible netbook/tablets do suggest some productivity value. My doctors office is full of these little convertible laptops with 10" touch screen LCD's and I've been able to play with a few of them and they are great. My doctor is a little bit of a nerd himself.
Blues22475
August 16, 2010 at 1:33pm
Looking for a scapegoat for poor sales. I don't think it may have anything to do with the iPad so much as the fact that people can buy a laptop (granted a higher price tag) that has more functionality and portability (a little less than a netbook but still). Moreover, I doubt people just buy a netbook to solely do work on (which what a netbook's purpose seems to be linked to).
Walnut
August 16, 2010 at 12:25pm
Netbooks are a lousy form factor. They're lightweight which makes them portable, but you still need a good deal of space to use them effectively. It's been pretty obvious from the beginning that tablets would win out. That said, I think Asus is giving the iPad a bit too much credit. It's a big, expensive toy. If it were able to do real work half-way optimally, I'd have one and not be waiting for Notion Ink's offering.
Keith E. Whisman
August 16, 2010 at 8:26am
Come on, it shouldn't be all that hard to figure out that Netbooks are dead and the new direction should be tablets. The only reason why netbooks were great is because of there extreme portability, well tablets are infinitely more portable. Tablets should also have much longer battery life and better ease of use.
Tablets should have a 10" OLED Capacitive, multi-touch display, an SSD, an forward and rear facing camera, USB3 ports, speakers, headphone jacks, 4gigs of DDR3 ram, fastest damn multi/many core System on a Chip, and a Ten Hour battery life with Windows 7 or equivalent high end OS.
pseudonary
August 16, 2010 at 1:35pm
Netbooks aren't dead yet, and that's partly because they have they're own niche and cater to different people. Some people want something light and portable but still want a tactile keyboard. More importantly, tablets like the one you described don't exist yet afaik and won't for at least a few months. Also, a tablet with an SSD, USB3 ports, 4GB of RAM, a multicore proc, and Win7 would probably cost upwards of $600, in which case most consumers would give up the extra portability and just buy a laptop.
bikerbub
August 16, 2010 at 2:40pm
i won't get a dedicated tablet for the same reason i didn't opt for the Droid Incredible.
I need a keyboard, and it's frustrating as hell for me to type without one.
Keith E. Whisman
August 16, 2010 at 2:36pm
This is MaximumPC after all, why not Maximum Tablet all the way :)
Connect with MaximumPC
Featured Content
The gang discusses the GTX 690, Trinity, Ivy Bridge, Amazon, big-box stores, MMOs,...
This month's issue
Feature
Build a PC On Any Budget
Feature
Cloud Services Showdown
How-To
Encrypt Your External Drive
Build It
Upgrade an X58 Rig
Most Commented Articles
Latest Max PC Tweets
- maximumpc: Original RickRoll Video Returns to YouTube After 24-Hour Copyright Hiatus http://t.co/MaH9Sxyy17 hours 40 min ago
- maximumpc: Corsair has decided not to go forward with its $78 million IPO, citing weak equity market conditions http://t.co/A5a4DAzj17 hours 50 min ago
- maximumpc: Want to work at Maximum PC? Our Online Managing Editor, Alex, is moving away, so we need a new one. http://t.co/9Z7JCh0E2 days 15 hours ago
