Asus eyes Android, Windows 8 tablets in 2012
Can it be the iPad rival it wasn't in 2011?
An interesting snippet emerges from Asus' latest financial results presentation: it expects to sell rather fewer tablets in the Christmas period that it did during Q3.
Asus' Eee Pad shipment outlook reveals the company shipped 400,000 tablets - Eee Pad Transformers in the main - in Q2, followed by 800,000 more in Q3. These, Asus reveals, are actual shipments.
But its target for Q4 - a period that encompasses Christmas around the world, plus the Thanksgiving gift-buying time in the US - is just 600,000 units, now covering two models - the Eee Pad Slider is shipping - not just one.
Of course, units shipped in Q3 and still sitting on shop shelves may contribute to Q4 sales, ensuring Asus doesn't need to ship as many units during the current quarter. It is including the as-yet-unavailable Eee Pad Transformer Prime in 2011's shipments total.
Asus says it will ship 1.6m tablets in 2011 - a figure less than the combined quarterly actuals and Q4 2011's target, you'll note. To put that in perspective, Apple shipped more than 11.1m iPads in Q3 alone.
Asus, however, has high hopes for 2012. Expect the announcement of two Android tablets in Q1 - almost certainly at January's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) - followed by two ARM-based Windows 8 products in Q3 2012.
Both sets of launches will be accompanied by "aggressive market share and mind share attacking" campaigns, Asus says. ®
COMMENTS
"Of course, units shipped in Q3 and still sitting on shop shelves may contribute to Q4 sales"
Asus Transformer has been shipment constrained all year. They have been unable to make enough to sell. There is almost none in the retail chain.
http://desktops.cbronline.com/news/emea-media-tablet-sales-soar-394-idc-230911
"ASUS Eee Pad Transformer proved to be one of the most successful Android models, and ASUS could have sold more if supply was not constrained, said IDC."
Just because it was supply constrained doesn't mean it still is. Apple also could have sold more iPad-2s if it hadn't been supply constrained, but those constraints no longer apply. Likely Asus could have sold more units if it had been able to get them to market while Apple was still struggling to meet demand, but it's a much rougher environment for them now - especially with the Kindle Fire launching in the US.
"Black Friday"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_%28shopping%29
"Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, many retailers open very early, often at 4 a.m., or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the shopping season, similar to Boxing Day sales in many Commonwealth countries."
Apparently only once has someone been trampled to death in the course of the festival?
>Both sets of launches will be accompanied by "aggressive market share and mind share attacking" campaigns, Asus says
Oi ! I dont want my mind attacking TYVM ! If I wanted my mind tampering with I would have already bought an iSomething.
Fail?
While ASUS would doubtless prefer to be matching supply and demand the fact is they have a successful product. I'm sure they're in a much happier place than RIM are at the moment or even some of their Android competitors for that matter.
