1 Jan. 2008

Budget Laptops, originally designed with users in poor developing countries in mind, are selling sluggishly into these markets. Marketing experts with these targets in mind have obviously overlooked that the educational problems in these countries have deeper roots and causes instead of just a lack of cheap computers. But they are now selling like hot cakes in rich countries, where a lot of people realize that the stripped-down functions of these little machines are virtually all they need in daily practice, and that the tiny 7-inch displays that go along with them can be tolerated.

Hot sales of the Eee PC, a low-price laptop launched by Taiwan's ASUSTEK in the U.S. bode well for the success of budget computers in a market which has been seen as unfriendly to such products because of an emphasis on performance over cost. In reality, the Eee PC, which was introduced to the American market just this October, has been named one of the three most popular Christmas gifts by retailers.

With the Eee PC's extraordinary first appearance, other principal international brands, some of which did not that the development of such devices was realistic, have turned their awareness fervently to the huge business prospective of low-price laptops.

The demand for such laptops, including the world's three major models EeePc, the XO by Quanta Computer and OLPC Association and the Classmate PC, is projected to hit more than six million units worldwide in 2008. ASUS in confident that the figure will top one billion units in the future.

ASUS got off that a rather late start in the development of such low-price devices and soon saw the potential in developed countries, unlike its competitors which focused on underdeveloped nations for educational purposes.

ASUS will have two stands in Hall 25 of CeBIT 2008 , which should be in the spotlight of attention for the Eee, which in Taiwan is already sold in four different versions.

The company believes ( and the public attention proves this assumption right ) that even in developed countries there are quite a few consumers who could be the target because they are still without computers. As a result, the Eee turned out the big seller in the Christmas market of 2007.

In fact, the very first budget laptop was OLPC's XO. The OLPC Association was founded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to meet the concept of “one laptop per child”. When this concept emerged, Taiwan's Quanta Computer responded immediately hopped on the new band wagon. Amidst skepticism of competitors, Quanta insisted that this innovative laptop could be profitable. In the view of the Eee's successes and the entry of other brands to come into the line, this decision has proven to be prophetic.

Other PC brands are following the Eee PC in the market for low-cost laptops, MITAC i.e., associated with the Icelandic company MIND to develop a new low price laptop, and Acer, Lenovo and HP are all gearing up to trying to find their own entries in this new market niche.