Asus Eee PC Meets and Exceeds Goals
Over 350,000 Eee PCs have been sold so far since the release in mid October, according to Tech Digest. This is already 50,000 over the original goal of 300,000 units sold by the end of 2007. This is a success for Linux in two ways. First, the success of the Eee PC shows other hardware manufacturers that there is a market for computers with Linux on them that is worth getting into. Second, the more people using Eee PCs, the more people who know what Linux is. And the more people who know what Linux is and do not associate it with “geek,” the better for desktop Linux adoption.
To put the 350,000 number in perspective, Dell is thought to have sold 40,000 Ubuntu PCs over a period of about 5 months, according to The Register. This is about 8,000 per month compared to about 175,000 Eee PCs per month. Granted, the two products are very different and the numbers are not precise, but the difference in sales is obvious. One explanation for this difference is that the cost savings of not using Windows on a $400 laptop is far more eye-catching than on a $1000+ computer.
December 26th, 2007 at 1:27 am
Another reason would be marketing. Dell hide their Ubuntu PCs, and you have to already know about them before you hit the Dell website. Whereas the Eee PC is being marketed for itself.
December 26th, 2007 at 1:45 am
That’s very true. The other thing is that Dell is only selling their Linux machines (when you can find them) in the U.S. and several European countries. They aren’t yet available in my country…Canada. On the other hand the Asus Eee PC’s are being sold in Canada by a major electronics retailer i.e. “The Source by Circuit City” (what used to be Radio Shack) and at C$350 it’s a great deal!
Dell has set itself up to fail…while Asus has done what it needs to do to succeed. That’s the real difference!
December 26th, 2007 at 5:42 am
guys, i second what you both said!
December 26th, 2007 at 7:33 am
Just a quick note: the EEE PC is not yet sold in Europe, whereas the Dell is supposed to be available in UK/Germany/France at least.
The fact that it is more expensive to buy the same computer with a free Linux than with Windows is another reason why Dell is failing.
December 26th, 2007 at 9:19 am
Another thing is that the EEE PC is not marketing it’s self as a Linux machine. It’s marketing it’s self as an internet access device that can also do word processing etc.
When people think PC they think only MS and Apple. When people think device (Like a phone or something of that nature) the interface does not matter as much as long as it’s easy to do the intended tasks.
That is why Desktop Windows sales don’t translate down to hand held sales for Windows Mobile phones.
If Dell did better marketing, the machines would sell better. But like everyone here says, you have to be looking for the Ubuntu machines to know they are there.
If Dell pushed them as say internet access PC’s and had marketing for them as easy to use, low cost PC’s great for accessing the internet, email, typing documents etc I bet they would sell much better! More like the Green PC’s being sold at Walmart (Which are selling better then the Dell Ubuntu machines also!)
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7754614
December 26th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
The Eee PC is available in Europe. I’m in Scotland and bought an Eee PC for my daughter this Xmas. I got it from http://efficientpc.co.uk/ based in York England. As far as I know it has been available all over Europe for a while now.
December 26th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Well in Germany the Eee is not out until est. 10th of January.
December 26th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
what is the video card on the Eee? what can it do? I’m just curious I can’t wait for the Eee vs. cloudbook shootout articles. I don’t really want one I’m eyeing a system76 or a giant 17in zareason
December 26th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
The eeepc’s graphics card is good enough to run most of the add-ons in compiz. I run Ubuntu with compiz-fusion. The cube effect is flawless and the burning effect for minimize/maximize of windows works, but you can detect a little bit of slowness . . but people that haven’t seen the fire effect don’t say, gee that was slower than normal. It’s a Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 chipset for the video. I was woried about the smaller screen, but it is usable. I think the 10″ screen will be the sweet spot for these devices though. I am amazed at how well it runs a full install of Ubuntu. The keyboard takes a bit of getting use too, but I can type on it. Actually I have more trouble getting use to the Apple wireless keyboard I have . . I’ve had it longer and I make more mistakes on it than the eeepc.
December 27th, 2007 at 10:27 am
[...] Linux-based Eee PC has exceeded its 2007 sales goal by more than 50,000 units, writes Linux [...]