Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) unveiled yesterday its much anticipated Seashell Eee PC netbook and said it expects half of its netbook sales this year to come from the mainstream version of its latest offering.
“We expect revenue contribution from the Seashell netbook to take place predominantly in the second half of 2009 and mostly from countries in Asia and Europe,” chief operating officer Tony Chen (陳志雄) told a press conference yesterday.
Based on the company’s new business strategy, Seashell netbooks would be on the market for up to one year to take advantage of economies of scale in production and avoid inventory problems, Chen said.
Forecasts by Asustek showed that full-year netbook shipments would be about 3.5 million units. The company anticipates between 1.5 million and 2 million units will be SeaShell Eee PCs.
The company, which competes head-to-head with Acer Inc (宏碁) in the netbook market, said global netbook shipments would reach 21 million units this year, followed by 30 million and 40 million units next year and in 2011 respectively, citing forecasts by International Data Corp.
In the first quarter of this year, the top three netbook vendors were, in market share order, Acer (宏碁), Asustek and Hewlett-Packard Co.
With its white casing and ultra slim design, the Seashell netbook looks like a hybrid between the MacBook and MacAir. It features a 10.1 inch light-emitting diode liquid-crystal-display screen and weighs 1.1kg.
Bulkier components, such as the SATA II 2.5 inch 160 GB hard drive and minimized motherboard, are located in the thickest end (25.7mm) of the netbook, while the molded lithium-ion polymer battery is located on its thinner side (18 mm), product manager Jason Wu (吳南馨) said.
“The biggest challenge, of course, was where to put the battery. So we went with the lithium-ion polymer battery used in the Apple MacAir to achieve the slim look and give users up to six hours of battery time. With enough venting slots, testing showed no overheating,” Wu said.
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