iPad hits Asus Eee PC sales Still not convinced that Apple's iPad is eating into sales of netbooks? Just ask netbook supremo Asus. Last week, it revealed its netbook sales during Q2 were lower than those it recorded in Q1, and that it anticipates Q3 sales - which includes the back-to-school sales period, traditionally a good time for purveyors of low- …
Back in January when I went to the BETT at Olympia, I was amazed by the number of iPhones I saw around the place. I was also pretty surprised to find companies actively promoting their use in the classroom (iPod Touches too)
I fully expect now to see iPads making a major showing at the next BETT.
Saying that 'the iPad is also pretty hopeless as a school/college device' is, in my opinion, a very short-sighted statement.
The iPad has sold phenomenally well, to the extent that Apple are on record as saying that it has exceeded their expectations.
"It's expensive in price, and cheap by feature comparison" Actually it's priced about right when you consider the quality of materials and components. As for features, they are actually really well implemented and the thing is a delight to use. I, and literally millions of other users simply do not need full desktop power (which netbooks rarely *actually* provide) all the time, for most activities, the feature set that the iPad has meets and often exceeds my requirements. If long lists of poorly implemented features floats your boat, then this product won't, but then this product obviously isn't aimed at you.
"The iPad is also pretty hopeless as a school/college device." How so? You used one?
"So, are you sure its the iPad that killing the sales?" IPad introduced start of Q2 in US, sales slump of EeePCs in Q2, Apple report higher than expected sales. Q3, EeePC slump expected to continue, iPad released in more territories. Apply Occam's Razor...
For the cost of an iPad you can get yourself a pretty respectable full size laptop. When you compare the differences in price versus functionality, it just might not make a lot of sense anymore to people to buy a cheaper netbook. A lot of the distinctiveness of netbooks has disappeared as their specs have been beefed up. Plus PCs and laptops are cheaper all around. The whole "netbook" thing is simply a reflection of how PC technology gets cheaper over time.
The new tiny Sony Vaio laptop/netbook is much like the old tiny Vaio laptop. Although the price has been dramatically reduced.
Can you type up your essays on it? Yes, but slowly. Can you write compsci projects on it? Yes, as long as you buy the APple Dev kit.
So that leaves it a a media consumer - exactly what it says on the tin - but no suitable as a laptop replacement in a school college environment,
As to cost - as someone else said, you can buy a laptop that does all that the iPad does, but also the college tasks the iPad cannot do very well. And for less money.
I would love an iPad like device - but for the things people want to use it for, I think it is deficient when compared with a cheap netbook.
Clearly this has nothing to do with ASUS ramming up the specs and prices of what used to be a viable cheap SSD-based mobile platform (I even have a pair of US 'cargo pants' that can fit my 4G in the pocket) to, what is basically, on spec and size, just another laptop.
Although I agree with your sentiments, keep in mind that the reason Asus kept making successive models bigger, was because nobody wanted the darn things. They had a niche product, which carved up an extremely small niche.
They discovered that the majority of people didn't really want small, barely usable netbooks, but cheap laptops. However, it eventually turned out that what people really wanted was a small, affordable device with the utility of netbooks and the capabilities and usability of laptops combined--enter the iPad.
-dZ.
IDC have Q1 combined sales of netbooks from Acer, Samsung & Asus etc at 4.8 million compared to 3.6 Q1 last year.
More interesting use of the statistics would be to look at how, and perhaps why, the Asus share of the netbook market has shrunk, rather than make pointless comparisons with a completely different form factor.
Probably has something to do with them (ASUS) not offering the best spec/price point match compared with other manufacturers. I agree with the previous poster that they ruined it all by stopping linux and using XP then 7 starter. Having the specs hamstrung in terms of RAM doesn't help either - most units I've seen are 1GB. Pointless or what?
It's been proven with some hard and fast data that this is directly attributable to the iPad?
Perhaps an ongoing worldwide recession has also dented sales? Perhaps the netbook market has just been flooded? Perhaps the steady creeping up of netbook prices for little additional functionality has affected sales? Loads of factors at play here.
I love the way the article says "low-cost laptops". I don't call £429-£699 cheap!
and would also like ot suggest that the netbooks "must have" period nearly is over so sales will be dropping down to the level they will stay at for some time.
Interestingly enough, since the iPad came out, sales of another product that are barely related have declined. Must be the same reason eh?
Spot on.. Netbooks are cheap and come with Keyboards, Ipads aren't and don't. I'd take a lot of convincing that they were competing in the same market.
Windows 7 might be the culprit. Maybe until Intel has faster Atoms, the MS-philes have gone off netbooks because they're too slow running Win7? (That they come with 1Gb RAM rather than 2Gb doesn't help)
What I want, is an ARM-powered netwook with a small SSD running Linux and weighing under a kilo. Shouldn't be hard, with ~17 Watts less CPU and no moving parts. Is there really *no* market?
Netbooks have lost their appeal...
They used to be cheap, simple devices that did a few things very well...
Now they aren't cheaper than regular lowend laptops, but slower. They aren't even very small anymore, even 9" netbooks are now hard to find.
It's down to MS, the original netbooks were too slow to run their bloatware so they pushed up the specs, and once they had crowded linux out of the market they jacked their prices back up...
I'm still happy with the original eee, running linux from a solid state drive... Don't want a 10" screen, don't want a spinning drive, certainly don't want windows or the extra cpu/memory/disk it requires. A simple machine to take notes and do light web browsing or online chatting, that's small, light, and cheap so i don't have to worry about losing or breaking it.
im not sure that all the people buying cheap little netbooks would be willing to pay more than double for the latest jobsian fad. (although i do want one - but im not spending that kinda cash on something that is so limited)
maybe the people who wanted netbooks have bought them? to me they are completely different devices... i would expect to see sales go down as the people that wanted them as a gadget now have them., same with ipads unless the price drops significantly
I would love to upgrade my Asus 701 4G. So far everything I have seen is bigger and/or heavier and/or more expensive. I just want a stinking netbook. It does not have to run Windows. It does not need a hard drive. It does not need a keyboard I can type really fast on. I could even live with 800x480 screen resolution. Stop trying to sell me small laptops renamed as netbooks...
that you really can't get Netbooks anymore.
Try and find something like the original eeepc701 - rugged, with no moving parts, acceptable battery life, capable of being put in a coat pocket and runs on a phone charger. You can't get them any more.
An while it is a bit slow it does the things I want it for - browsing, watching movies on a train, light office work very well.
It does'nt edit video, or do photoshop or play Crysis, but then the clue is in the name - its a NETBOOK, not a desktop replacement or even a laptop replacement.
The iPad may be pretty, but I saw a girl trying to use on on the train the other day - she had it in her lap and it looked very clumsy. She could have put it flat on the table but that would have been almost as bad. with the 701 I can put it on the table, angle the screen in the normal way and have the perfect viewing angle to work or watch a movie. I can also plug in any USB device I like...
Of course the iFad can't be blamed for the sales going down the toilet. The pressure from Microsoft to turn them expensive, only available with Microcrap and misleading marketing. Now, Asus and the other makers are relying on Google and Android for their fortunes. One could say they deserved it and learned their lesson but that would be wishful thinking. They never learn. They should have worked with Canonical, for example, and made a great job shipping netbooks with linux with the right marketing. Well, maybe they are now thinking that all the bribes or pressure (I doubt, otherwise why working with Google now?) from Microsoft it's bad business...
http://www.reghardware.com/Design/graphics/icons/comment/gates_horns_32.png
After all, Windows 7 is an abomination of pork and overhead. No wonder the netbook is losing that battle. sheesh! I think that the departure of Bill Gates at the helm is actually a harbinger of things to come.
A lot will depend on what people were still buying these things for, and when they buy.
Those buying the EEPC as a small device to use for quick webbery or Facebookery would surely rather do this on an ipad which starts quickly and does the job perfectly.
There are of course certain things that the ipad does not do well, including word processing etc. Sales to students don't really happen during Q2. Wait for the Q3 sales figures.
No figures but secondhand sales are great. I've picked up 4 netbooks already for a total of just over 400 dollars. 3 of them were owned by women and were pretty much pristine. All 3 said they bought iPads. The 1 man sold an eeepc 901, from a notice posted on the cork board at the local uni. The reason he gave was that he was looking to upgrade.
I see a lot of notices for netbooks up for sale on cork boards and in the free sale notices of the local paper. It looks they are were a bit of a fad. Good for a collector like me.
Along with my original 4G, I've now got a 901, HP mininote, Aspire one, and an Aldi Medion Akoya E1222. The funny thing was that the lady could have taken it back to Aldi and got a full refund as it was still within the 60 days satisfaction guarantee.
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