Notebook maker is now No. 2 tab maker behind the iPad, reports suggest.
The Taiwanese Transformer maker has succeeded in nabbing the title from under rival Samsung’s nose, having achieved shipments figures of 400,000 units for the first half of this year, reports Digitimes, citing components supplier figures.
Asus Eee Pad family of tabs which includes Transformer and Eee Pad and Slider on Honeycomb 3.0 have been well received in the US and here in Australia, although the Slider is not available until July.
Asus have made no secret of its mission to out-tab rival slates including Galaxy Tab with CEO Jerry Shen confiding in journalists at CeBIT in Germany earlier this year of his desire to be No.2 in tabs by 2012.
And it looks as though Christmas has come early for Shen, to the dismay of its Korean rivals Samsung.
Samsung have not released official sales figures for its Galaxy Tab although said it sold 1.5 million of the 7″ Tabs in 2010 (which was later revealed as the amount shipped) admitting in February sales of its first Tab “wasn’t as fast as we expected.”
Considering the first Tab went on sale mid last year, it would appear Samsung have a serious rival on its hands although is set to launch its Galaxy Tab 10.v here soon and earlier this week launched its high spec 10.1″ Tab on Honeycomb 3.0 OS in the US, which it will be hoping revive consumer interest.
And looking to emulate the success of Transformer, the giant is said to be busy working on a second-generation model running Honeycomb 3.1, tipped to see the light of day launch in October “at the earliest.”
This is also to be swiftly followed by a 7-inch Eee Pad MeMO 3D also due for release in Q4 and Padfone, the smartphone meshed with a tab running Android Ice Cream Sandwich and Nvidia Tegra 3 to retail for US$549-$799.
But it’s not just notebooks that’s burning the midnight oil in Asus’ backroom labs.
Shen’s giant is also planning a notebook running Google’s Chromebook using Nvidia Tegra 3 this year, according to reports.
