Disrupting the status quo
It's amazing how Taiwan has reinvented itself in the high-technology sector. I still remember the days when most of the world looked down on products that were "Made in Taiwan". That mindset, ironically, is now directed towards China where Taiwan has outsourced most of its manufacturing requirements.
The island has adopted an innovative culture and concentrated its efforts in creating "high-value" work, particularly in the IT field. The latest proof of this innovative approach is the Eee PC of Taiwanese firm Asustek.
I don't have an Eee PC and I'm not even aware that Asus has an office here in the Philippines. But, based on the feedback that I've been hearing in the last few weeks or months, I can't help but admire how this product has virtually turned the PC business upside down.
Asus, according to my colleague Jing Garcia of The Manila Times, prefers to call it an "Internet device" and not a laptop or UMPC (ultra mobile PC). Though not the first to use Flash memory as storage instead of a hard disk, it is the first computer with that technology to attain huge commercial success.
Chipmaker Intel won't admit it but it never actually expected the Eee PC creating an entirely new PC segment. This is the reason why it has hurriedly designed the soon-to-be-launched Atom line of processors that are specifically targeted for what it calls "netbooks".
The Eee PC has been wildly successful that local supplies were out of stock for quite sometime after its local launch. There were stories that local distributors even hoarded some of the early units to push up its price. But it seems it's back to normal now with mall stores now displaying them with prices ranging from 18,700 peso (US$451) to 19,500 (US$470) peso.
The units, available in white and black, are being sold side-by-side with the eXplore, a similar Flash memory-based kiddie netbook manufactured by local laptop assembler Neo. The eXplore, priced at 17,000 peso (US$410), is the first locally assembled netbook and is based on Intel's Classmate PC.
Perhaps impressed by the success of the Eee PC, Intel has licensed the Classmate PC, which was once only limited for educational use, to ODMs (original design manufacturers) like Neo. The marketing subsidiary of Intel has said that other ODMs would also be coming out with their own netbooks based on the Classmate PC.
But big PC makers are not to be denied. With a new revenue source popping up, tech firms such as HP and Acer are scampering to bring to the market their respective sub-laptops.
Reviews of the HP Mini, the netbook of the top PC maker, have so far been mostly positive. I'm not a hardware guy but I'm actually looking forward to its Philippine launch scheduled on the first week of May.
With Asus leading the pack, can Acer be far behind? The Taiwanese computer giant has anchored its comeback on laptops so it's but logical for it to introduce a mini-laptop as well. Though reports are still sketchy, the company is said to be launching its own Flash-memory based product very soon.
The invasion of netbook, or what Asus also calls the "Internet device", has started.