This isn't a huge shock, given that ASUS has already publicly expressed woes about poor sales of its Windows RT products, but CEO Jerry Shen's latest comments have a surprising edge of finality to them. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, he repeated that "Windows RT has not been very successful" and said that the company took a writedown on its stock of RT tablets, although he didn't reveal the size of the loss. He also said that, from now on, ASUS will solely make Windows 8 devices that run on Intel / x86 processors, due to the backwards compatibility with Windows software offered by those products. Meanwhile, NVIDIA has also predicted losses due to its involvement with RT, but it seems to be pushing ahead with a next-gen ARM-based Surface tablet regardless.
Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, ASUS
Via: TNW
Source: WSJ
Google's next generation of Nexus 7 tablets from ASUS will be Qualcomm-powered and arrive this July, according to Reuters. If its sources are to be believed, Mountain View is aiming to ship eight million units by the end of the year, showing it has a lot of confidence in the upcoming model. Other leaked info claims more screen resolution, a thinner bezel and an unspecified Qualcomm CPU instead of the current model's NVIDIA Tegra 3, possibly to save power. There's no info on pricing or other specs and Google's not speaking at this point, of course -- but if it proves accurate, hopefully the two companies have learned their lesson from the current model's runaway success and will ramp production accordingly.
Filed under: Tablets, ASUS, Google
Source: Reuters
While it was pretty clear that ASUS' Google-partnered Nexus 7 contributed heavily to the Taiwanese maker's healthy Q3 results, there was no official confirmation on its exact sales figures so far. ASUS CFO David Chang has now come clean and told the WSJ that the 7-incher is close to touching the one million per month mark, just about double the rate of sales at its launch. While this number is a fraction of the iPad's sales (14 million in the last quarter alone), it could well go up due to the recent price drop and the addition of new 32GB models to the portfolio. On the flip side, the Nexus 7 is sure to face heat from close rivals, the Kindle Fire HD and the 7.9-inch Apple iPad mini, while the mega-spec Nexus 10 will also entice some buyers away from ASUS' reach.
Filed under: Tablets, ASUS, Google
Nexus 7 sales clocking in at close to a million per month originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Oct 2012 05:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |
WSJ | Email this | Comments 
ASUS' Transformer Pad was tucked in beneath the Transformer Prime in the company's range of hybrid Android tablets. The only problem however, was that the company forgot to really differentiate the two -- with only a few hours less battery life the real distinction. But how has it been for you to live with? Did you get used to its slightly fiddly keyboard, have you been as smitten with it as our reviewer? Step into Jonney Shih's shoes and tell us what you'd suggest he does differently when next year's model comes out.
Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, ASUS
How Would you Change ASUS' Transformer Pad TF300? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Oct 2012 22:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments 
Spend yesterday away from the internet? ASUS' launch of the new PadFone 2 might have passed you by. Fortunately, we live in the internet age, where any action can be reviewed and examined to Zapruder-esque proportions. If you'd like to relive the press conference as if you were there with Jonney Shih in Milan, grab yourself an espresso and catch the footage we've tucked after the break.
Continue reading Watch ASUS' PadFone 2 Milan press conference from the safety of your home (video)
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, ASUS
Watch ASUS' PadFone 2 Milan press conference from the safety of your home (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Oct 2012 15:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments 
If 2012 was the year of the Ultrabook, 2013's going to be remembered by the massive proliferation of laptop / tablet hybrids. One such convertible that's just been given full marks by the FCC is ASUS' TAICHI, an 11.6 or 13.3-inch unit that's packing an Ivy Bridge Core i7, 4GB RAM and, most notably, a display on both sides of its lid. While there's no official word from the company on a launch date, now that the government has given a thumbs up, it can't be too much further out. Plausibly, a rogue Amazon listing has pegged the 11.6-inch model as costing $1,300 and arriving on October 26th, alongside Windows 8.
Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, ASUS
ASUS' TAICHI convertible laptop hits the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 10:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |FCC | Email this | Comments 
We already suspected as much -- not least from the FCC filing above -- but an unnamed executive at Asustek Computer Inc has reportedly just confirmed that Google's much-rumored new tablet will be co-branded with ASUS. According to Reuters, the employee said the tablet will help Google to "target Amazon" and the Kindle range of tablets and e-readers. Despite the existence of Google Play Books, which are available on any Android tablet, the insider said that Google "doesn't have anything like Amazon's service" -- a quote which may not make a ton of sense, but which does support the general notion of a $199 rival to the Kindle Fire.
Google tablet will indeed be co-branded with ASUS and will target Amazon, says insider originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 05:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink
Pocket-lint | Reuters | Email this | Comments