EEE PC success likely to spawn rivals

Soaring sales of Asustek’s EEE PC will likely result in a surge of low-cost sub-notebooks, according to a report by market research firm, Gartner.

The firm has reiterated its target to sell 3.8 million units by the end of 2008, as well as its expectations of selling 400,000 units by the end of this year.

Gartner said that the EEE PC’s success was likely to be the biggest problem for the firm, with rivals such as Intel and Chinese manufacturer Hasee developing rival products.

Hasee recently stated that it intends to launch a rival notebook, that would have a much larger screen, at 13.3-inches, an 80GB hard drve and an Intel Celeron 540 processor.