Asus Reveals Eee Pad Launch Details, Talks Differences Between Those And Netbooks

Asus had confirmed in the past that they would also play their cards in the Tablet PC game, acknowledging that they'd issue a Tegra 2-based Eee Pad at some point in the future to rival Apple's iPad and the spate of other rival machines sure to hit the market during 2010. But few details beyond the general plans to launch were announced. Now, it looks like Asus has begun to firm things up somewhat, with a new report stemming from a Q1 investors conference in Taipei casting new light on a launch time frame.

Computex is scheduled to begin in early June in Taiwan, and given the home crowd advantage, Asus will use this trade show to officially unveil the Eee Pad, or the series of Eee Pad Tablets, we should say. The first phase will use "Microsoft Software," the company's CEO (Jerry Shen) announced, but an official ship date is being withheld until Asus can evaluate the overall market excitement for Tablets and Slates.


Also, Shen spoke of something that really struck a chord with us. He stated that netbooks and tablets, of which Asus will soon be making in both respects, serve "two different markets." He said that Tablet PCs are better for cloud computing, while netbooks are better for personal computing. That makes a lot of sense to us, but we think the two may begin to overlap more in time as new software is developed specifically for both platforms. In closing, Asus credited Apple for really pushing the Tablet PC into the mainstream: "The tablet PC is a cloud computing device. If it weren't for Apple this market would develop a lot more slowly." Hard to argue there.