Report: Apple’s iPad Taking Bite Out of Netbook Industry

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(Credit: steve-chippy/Flickr)

We’ve been hearing from analysts how the iPad will destroy the netbook market. Now we see the end result: from one of the companies that began the trend toward inexpensive laptops, Asustek Computer. The maker of the Eee PC expects to ship 1.4 million Eee PC netbooks in the third-quarter – fewer than planned, according to a Monday report.

“Because of decreased shipments of motherboards, notebooks and netbooks, Asustek’s financial performance for the second quarter declined on quarter,” Asustek Computer president CEO Jerry Shen announced August 13.


Over the past two quarter, sales of Eee PCs have declined. In the first quarter of 2010, the company shipped 1.6 million of the netbooks. That slipped to 1.5 million during the second quarter.

However, the netbook manufacturer isn’t conceding the market to the iPad. Like several other PC makers, Asustek plans to launch its own ‘iPad killer’ later this year: the Eee Note – an 8-9-inch tablet expected in October – and the Eee Pad, a 12-inch tablet scheduled for sometime around Christmas.

Naturally, Apple isn’t standing still, either. The Cupertino, Calif. company reportedly is working on a seven-inch iPad for the holiday 2010 market.

In July, Goldman Sachs pointed to what it called the iPad’s greatest advantage over the netbooks: the ‘5 Cs’ of Consumption, Content, Connected, Constant-On and Commerce. The iPad is more like a TV; you interact with it by watching. The iPad’s content is also easily refilled by the easy-to-use App Store. The content consumption can last up to five times as long as a netbook, thanks to the iPad’s battery. Finally, due to those millions of credit card numbers stored at the App Store, commerce is a breeze with the iPad.

We will see during the next financial quarter how the iPad rivals stack up against the real thing and what counter-attack Apple has up its sleeve.

[9to5Mac, Digitimes]

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