Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) said on Thursday that it will launch a tablet computer priced at NT$30,370 early in the new year, as part of the world’s fifth-largest PC maker’s efforts to meet the demand of the high-end market.
The Taiwan-based company will begin selling the 12-inch tablet device running the Windows 7 operating system in the first quarter of next year, although the local market is not included in the first allocation of units, Asustek’s senior product manager Jose Liao (廖逸翔) said at a press conference.
“Our tablet PCs will be available in Taiwan in March or April next year,” Liao said.
At the same press conference, Asustek announced the launch of a series of lightweight laptops that are being sold during the Dec. 4 to Dec. 12 ICT Month technology fair.
Three-hundred-and-fifty companies, including giants such as Acer Inc (宏碁), Asustek, Sony Corp, HTC Corp (宏達電) and Epson Imaging Devices Corp, are being represented at the fair.
Many companies are expected to offer discounts to consumers attending the fair, which has free entry, according to the organizer.
Asustek is expecting to sell 13,000 devices at the show, including regular notebooks, netbooks and e-readers, a gain of 30 percent compared to last year’s show, Asustek’s general sales manager Kevin Lin (林福能) said.
In addition, the company’s total shipments of notebooks is forecast to grow by at least 20 percent this year, although the actual number will not be disclosed until closer to the end of the year, Lin said.
Asked about notebook prospects in the first quarter of next year, Lin said they are not bad because of strong demand in the Chinese market.
People will begin to spend their money after receiving their traditional “red envelopes,” monetary gifts exchanged during the Lunar New Year holiday, he said.
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