According to MIC (Market Intelligence Center, Taiwan), an ICT industry research institute based in Taipei, PC companies including Acer, Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, ECS and FIC rolled out mini notebook PC products during Computex 2008, held in Taipei, Taiwan from June 3 to June 7. Looking at these products, it is obvious that mainstream screen sizes are gradually moving from 7-inch to 8.9- and 10-inch, with a majority of products adopting 8.9-inch screens. Products include the Acer Aspire One, the Asus Eee PC 900 series, the Gigabyte M912, and the Intel second-generation Classmate PC manufactured by ECS. MSI rolled out the 10-inch Wind NB U100.
The Eee PC came to the fore during Computex 2007, and during this year's exhibition it again was a highlight for visitors. The low-price mini notebook PC market is developing rapidly. Major vendors such as HP, Dell, and Acer have joined the fray, while Asus has also been aggressively updating the Eee PC. The company currently has already rolled out Eee PCs with three different screen sizes, including 7-, 8.9-, and 10-inch, showing that it intends to develop a family of Eee products. According to MIC Senior Industry Analyst Chris Wei, "Asus has the ambition to extend notebook PC to desktop PCs and peripheral products. If the company is able to successfully use the Eee PC brand, it might be able to move up in worldwide PC vendor rankings."
Regarding the Aspire One notebook PC rolled out by Acer, the price of basic models is approximately NT$12,000 (US$396.0; US$1=NT$30.3), and it features an 8.9-inch screen. Its price has approached that of the Eee PC 701 series, and Acer's product could become a direct competitive threat to the Eee PC. Asus also launched the Atom version of the Eee PC, including a revised version of the 901 model featuring an 8.9-inch screen, and the 1000 series which is mainly equipped with 10-inch screens. It also lowered prices of the 701 series, with the lowest price reaching NT$7,999 (US$264.0).
Due to the increasing size of mini notebook PC screens and improvements in hardware specifications, the sales price of products on display during this year's Computex had risen to US$450-US$600. These prices were significantly higher than the price of the first-generation of the Eee PC launched last year, and are approaching traditional notebook PC prices. According to MIC, it remains to be seen whether low-price mini notebook PCs will be able to maintain their mini low-price positioning, as consumers are demanding improvements in functionality and as prices need to conform to low-price expectations.
During this year's Computex, E-Lead launched the 7-inch NoahPad. This product uses virtual screen technology which gives a 7-inch screen a 10-inch display effect. Many models with Bluetooth functions or which are about to adopt WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) or HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) communications specifications, could cooperate with telecom operators in the future. This could take the form of promotional sales to consumers similar to bundled contracts of mobile phones. MIC stated that as low-price mini notebook PCs are about to face fierce competition in the consumer market, vendors will need to address the issue of how to continuously improve product functions while lowering end-market prices to stimulate consumer demand, without impacting profit margins.
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Market Intelligence Center, based in Taipei, Taiwan, was founded in 1987. MIC is Taiwan's premier IT industry research and consulting firm providing intelligence, in-depth analysis, and strategic consulting services on global IT product and technology trends, focusing on markets and industries in Asia-Pacific. MIC is part of the Institute for Information Industry. https://mic.iii.org.tw/english