Future ASUS Notebooks to Include HyperSpace

After unveiling HyperSpace earlier this month, Phoenix Technologies and ASUS are announcing a partnership which will help accelerate the adoption of HyperSpace. Through the agreement, ASUS will incorporate HyperSpace into its next generation notebooks, though no specific models were detailed. Additionally, the company did not indicate if its netbooks, some of which already run a quick-booting Linux environment, will run HyperSpace.

However, according to jkOnTheRun, HyperSpace will ship on a variety of ASUS models, including the recently announced Omega Series notebooks and the well-known ASUS EeePC netbook. HyperSpace will be preinstalled, with the higher performance devices getting the Hybrid edition of HyperSpace and the Dual version of HyperSpace available on netbooks. jkOnTheRun also claims that ASUS will ship HyperSpace with a standard annual subscription fee, which is $39.95 for HyperSpace Dual on a netbook and $59.95 for the Hybrid version on a notebook.

If you’ll recall, HyperSpace is an instant-on and always-connected environment that provides quick access to various applications, including a Web browser and email without the need to boot into Windows. In addition to instant access to applications, HyperSpace provides users with extended battery life—as much as 25%, according to Woody Hobbs, president and CEO of Phoenix Technologies. Once Windows fully boots, users can toggle between Windows applications and the HyperSpace environment.

ASUS isn’t the only company to hop on board with HyperSpace: Acer has also previously announced plans to ship HyperSpace on some of its machines. We’re assuming other manufacturers will also follow suit at some point. We like the concept, but think the subscription fee could be a dissuading factor to some users. What do you think? Would you pay a small fee for HyperSpace functionality?