Acer, Asustek pushing Chromebooks and inexpensive notebooks
Aaron Lee, Taipei; Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 25 November 2014]
Acer is set to invest heavily in Chromebook development in 2015 with related shipments to grow over 50% on year to reach 4.8 million units. Meanwhile, Asustek Computer is also planning to increase its shipments of inexpensive 11.6-inch Windows-based EeeBook notebooks, and the devices are expected to account for over 30% of the vendor's overall notebook shipments in 2015, surpassing six million units, according to sources in the upstream supply chain.
With global notebook shipments only expected to stay flat or decline slightly on year in 2015, most brand vendors have turned to push inexpensive notebooks such as Chromebooks and Windows-based models running Microsoft's Small Screen Touch (SST) solution.
But Digitimes Research does not expect Acer to ship as many Chromebooks as estimated by the supply chain sources. Digitimes Research's latest report shows that Acer's Chromebook shipments will reach 2.4 million units in 2014 and grow further to four million in 2015, accounting for 26% of the vendor's overall notebook shipments.
Following the launch of its 11.6-inch EeeBook X205 priced at only US$199 in the third quarter, Asustek reportedly will focus on pushing the 11.6-inch EeeBook series for 2015 and expects related shipments to grow about 50% on year in 2015, the sources noted.
As for the company's Transformer Book T100 launched in the fourth quarter of 2013, the device's attractive pricing has significantly boosted consumers' demand, but the company has decided to focus on the EeeBook product line as the T100 is starting to experience fierce competition from competitors, the sources said.
The trend also meets Compal Electronics president Ray Chen's recent statement that in 2015, touchscreen-based clam shell-type notebooks will only see limited shipments and their proportion in overall notebook shipments will gradually approach zero.
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