There’s no doubt that the low-cost netbook trend will affect pro-mobile sales. It’s likely to affect laptop sales too. People in the industry are already hinting to me that they have problems. OEMS can’t price and position pro-mobile devices with confidence and specialist resellers have problems choosing which devices to stock. They don’t want to be left with a shelf full of out-of-fashion netbooks. There are still a few areas where netbooks can’t compete with UMPCs; built-in 3G, size and weight advantages, touchscreens, alternative form factors and rugged builds which can drive some good high-margin sales but when a well known brand comes along and offers a device with reasonable mobility advantages, a known quality-level, huge battery life, built-in 3G and a great price, you have to wonder how customers, OEMs and resellers in the mobile PC market will respond. [More of my thoughts about netbooks causing industry problems in this article.]

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There are a lot of people that prefer the casing of the 900 over the 901 but yet most people seem to want the Atom processor. ASUS have responded with the 900A. Its the 900 casing with an Atom-based device inside. This will please the people that know where they stand with the Eee PC models but lord help the Saturday salespeople!

JKK has some thoughts on it over at Eee central. JKKMobile.com and I’ve already added it to the database so we’ll track news on this one as it goes through. It deserves a little database love anyway as it’s a sub-1KG device!

Check this out. Engadget received a photo of an ASUS presentation slide showing 23 Eee models.

Note the ‘Touch’ and ‘Slim and Light’ expressions. Also note that the ASUS R50 and R70 aren’t part of the range. Looks like they still see tablets as niche devices that don’t fit into the EEE profile.

New models to look out for are the S101, S91, T101. I wonder if we’ll finally see a version of the T83. (image left.)It was a popular device on the portal last year but probably needs an update now.

Thanks to source: Engadget.

Jkk is quickly becoming a pro Eee hacker. His latest exploit involves putting a touch screen on the Eee 900. He has made a nice video talking a bit about the install process and showing how well it works. Glad to see how zippy the Eee is when it comes to page scrolling. I imagine he is using the Grab and Drag Firefox addon, which isn’t running so smoothly on my S41 while I’m unplugged. Head over to Jkkmobile to watch the video and check out plenty of nice shots showing 900 internals and the touch screen instillation process.

Despite my definition of a UMPC reaching up to 10″ devices, I never call the netbooks UMPCs! Maybe it’s because the term ‘netbook’ say something about the low-end features rather than the size. In the podcasts, we’ve been talking a lot about how small the 701, 900 and 901 are compared to the other netbooks but it’s not until you see an image like this that you realise the real difference. To most people it’s nothing. Both require a bag. But if you’re on a plane, in a train or the back of an automobile, those mm’s could make an important difference.

The other problem with all this sizing talk is that if you really need to be ultra mobile, then wait a while. MIDs are coming and could be an even better solution for you. Granted, with 3G, GPS and miniature keyboard mechanisms on board, they won’t be as cheap but it might pay to be able to use the device in even more locations, without any sort of bag.

Via JKKmobile. Source Crave.

There’s a lot of news coming in right now. I’ll make brief posts and follow up later with commentary if neccecsary. Here’s a new video of the ASUS Eee PC 901 from Sascha at Computex.

Among the many interesting things expected to surface next week at Computex, the Eee PC 1000 is probably one that will get a huge amount of attention. While the 1000 isn’t a device I personally find that interesting for ultra mobile usage, its clear to see where ASUSTEK are going with the Eee brand. High-value devices for the masses.

Its not clear if it will launch with Atom, how much bigger it will be and how customers will choose between the 8.9 and 10" models.

Image via Akihabaranews.com

News via Liliputing. Source: Digitimes.

Following the introduction of what appeared to be a value-pack in the UK where the 600Mhz non-bluetooth Q1 Ultra was being packaged with the keyboard and organiser pack for 500 pounds [aff link] , it appears Samsung Germany are dropping prices too. The price for the 800Mhz Q1 Ultra, 60GB, 1GB with XP at Amazon.de has just dropped from 1100 to 899 which brings it nearer to the 850 price of the R2E. The HSDPA version is steady at 1200 which is very expensive in comparison now.

200 Euros is a great price saving but you’d think that after one year of sales, Samsung would have some flexibility and drop it into a consumer pricing zone. 900 Euros still isn’t attractive to most consumers.

Compare it to an Eee PC 701 and you get these features with my estimated end-user value in brackets.

• Higher screen res + Touchscren (100 Euros value)
• 60Gb storage (50 Euros value)
• Bluetooth (20 Euros value)
• Lighter and smaller (value depends on user but no keyboard offsets that.)
• XP Tablet edition (100 Euros value)
• 1GB RAM (50 Euros value)

That’s a total of 320 Euros value for 600 Euros higher cost. Personally I regard the Samsung Q1 Ultra as a much better device than the Eee PC and I put a very high value on its mobility and flexibility but for most people, that’s simply not the case.

Update: Marc points out that the 600Mhz version in the UK can be had for 449 pounds (565 Euros) making it very comparable with the Eee PC 701 + 40Gb HDD + XPTE + Touchscreen + Higher Res + 1GB upgrade + Lighter and smaller.

Here’s a question: If the Q1 Ultra was 599 Euro, which would you buy. The Q1 or the Eee PC 701?

Samsung Q1 Ultra Pro 800 Besar 7 Zoll WSVGA Tablet-PC (Intel Pentium 1GHz, 1GB RAM, 60GB HDD, WinXP Tablet PC Edition)

The 901 is ussemed to be the Atom-based version of the 900 which makes sense but isn’t 100% confirmed yet. There aren’t any more details to accompany the images either but I feel sure we’ll see more of this and many other Atom-based devices at Computex in a few weeks. It looks nice apart from the shiny plastic buttons up by the battery. I’m sure it’s going to look even better in black though.

Blogeee.net have a whole load of images so check out their site.

UMPCPortal have been fortunate enough to be able to build some good relationships with resellers over the last few years which means there’s a nice two way channel for information that can go to and from potential customers.

For example, yesterday I contacted Gigabyte about the rumored 912, 8.9" netbook and I should be getting some official news very soon. In the other direction, came the following information for UK and Australian customers…

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