Eee PC Lower Shipments Because of Power Supplies?
February 23rd, 2008 by antI came across this line in an article about ASUS revinues for this year:
But, shipment of the brand’s hottest-selling Eee PC, a budget-price laptop, is estimated at only between 650,000 and 700,000 units for the quarter due mainly to a shortage of power supplies.
This is the first time I’ve heard anything about shortages of power supplies. Between the popularity of the device itself, the other shortages, the Chinese new year, and the snowstorms in China during February; it’s no wonder that many retailers still struggle to keep all models in stock at all time.
February 23rd, 2008 at 2:47 pm
This could be an oblique reference to the battery shortage noted on this site earlier in Feb or late Jan.
February 23rd, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Hard to believe “power supplies” since the estore is selling them. Must be the batteries, which the estore is NOT selling.
February 23rd, 2008 at 4:48 pm
you of course meant to say “revenues.”
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:26 pm
REVINUES
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Frankly I would be happy if any retailer would be able to keep any model in stock. It really makes me angry that apparently it’s no problem to supply the US (and maybe UK) while the rest of the world just has to wait for better days.
February 23rd, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Now, don’t go blaming the US!
It’s a big place. Seriously, I would be willing to wager that on a per capita basis, it’s no easier to get an eeepc in the US than any other collection of countries with the same total population. I suspect that it’s Japan and Taiwan that have it easiest!
February 23rd, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Tim
Sorry Tim, I’ve had an order for an 8G since 21 Jan. My US citizenship hasn’t moved me to the top of the queue.
February 23rd, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Are they that hard to get ahold of?? Several stores in my town (Toronto) have been selling them, and it was easy for me to get one a week ago (4G black), though maybe my timing was good.
February 24th, 2008 at 2:55 am
Isn’t it one of the rules of our economies that the price is driven by request and availability? If ASUS would tell the world WHICH part of the device is difficult to get, wouldn’t they boost the price fort that part esp. if the supplier would get aware of this? So they tell something which is not dangerous to tell.
A second idea: If the EEE-PC is a marketing campaign to establish ASUS as a brand for “Smart Notebooks” and to get rid of the image of a supplier of motherboards only - then this campaing was very successfull! They have produced 1 million “give aways” aka eee-pc and now they want to start earning money. I suppose the next AVAILABLE model costs at least twice as much and has a little larger screen or ssd. Every eee-pc they sell today generates a customers less for the more costly successors which are in the pipeline
February 24th, 2008 at 4:36 am
I think ASUS needs to work hard to deal with this supply/demand issue. Look at Apple, they can ship millions of iPhones and iTouches in a few months. The EEE should be a low priced item, the lack of supply is eroding that idea.
February 24th, 2008 at 6:45 am
The next excuse will probably be a shortage of plastic pellets, which is needed in the production of the Eee PC-casing, or maybe lead used in the soldering process internally.
February 24th, 2008 at 7:58 am
Sorry, I didn’t mean to bash the US. But there are mailorders there which have it in stock. Maybe not the G8, but it’s absolutely impossible to get hold even of the G4 in continental Europe, which is a bit disappointing. The fault lies of course not with the states but with Asus.
February 24th, 2008 at 11:32 am
> The fault lies of course not with the states but with Asus.
If anything, ASUS is responsible for the number of units produced, but no-one owns a (working) crystal ball. The eee could have been another Newton (look it up, kids). We don’t know enough to make that assertion. For example, how many units did the European retailers pre-order, compared to the US? D’ya think maybe the European market was too timid with initial orders?
Anyway, if there’s a shortage in place A, and excess inventory in place B, I expect the market to resolve that fairly quickly.
> I suppose the next AVAILABLE model costs at least twice as much and has a little larger screen or ssd. Every eee-pc they sell today generates a customers less for the more costly successors which are in the pipeline
Oh c’mon. everybody knows the price trend on computer hardware is down, down, down (give or take a bump caused by temporary issues, like shortage of RAM or hard-drives).
As far as I know, everyone is sticking to the same price-point (US$400 for the 4g), which I believe is a good price for both consumers and ASUS, and steady demand will allow them to hold to this price, til competition forces them to lower it.
I predict strong demand through 2008, and new models will be priced accordingly (eg 8 GB and bigger screen for maybe US$600), and by this time next year, the 4g will be down to like $325 or $300. And by then the wifi will work better. Grrr.
February 24th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Asus Netherlands does not even mention the EeePC on its website at all. Rumor is that the EeePC will be available in the Netherlands in April. This is probably true for most European countries, although I heard that the German localized version is now available in Germany.
February 24th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
It was indeed a bit late in France for ex, and they incriminated the keyboard constructor in various blogs, but who knows…
Hope you get yours soon
February 24th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
There are plenty of eee’s available here in the Great White North.
Blame Canada!
February 24th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
no problems getting the EEEPC here in europe, they’ve got them in stock and on the shelves in saturn and mediamarkt, anyway… been having a very interesting time not selling the thing to friends and family, tho! everyone wants a nicer, cheaper, smaller and practical computer, and thats what they see when they hold the EEEPC.. lets hope those with power increase the supply.
February 24th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
It’s really hard to get them. We are hardware dealers, registered with Asus, and even to *us* they say something like “expect long delivery times”.
cheers,
wjl
February 24th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Where in Europe is that? Mediamarkt in the Netherlands does not have the EeePC yet.
February 24th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
@NOYFB:
Did you mean: define: revenues
No definitions were found for revinues.
The dictionary is your friend. I hear the eee-pc even comes with one loaded.
February 24th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
I’ve had an order for an 4G since Jan 18th (UK).
I am still waiting…
February 24th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
[...] Read [emsnow] Via [eeeuser.com] [...]
February 25th, 2008 at 4:23 am
Hey guys, I’m in Vietnam. Luckier than someone from Netherlands and/or other countries which Eee has been officially luanched, Eee is now available in Vietnam!! But can you guess the price?? 459 US$ for 4G Surf and 499 US$ for 4G!! This is insane. I have to give up my dream to own an Eee.
February 25th, 2008 at 6:11 am
Somehow a lot of people are finding a problem believing
company’s about shortage of tech items .
Are the people at the top of business actually living in reality
along with the consumers ?
The EEE comes out in tiawan and its mega popular
the next month its out in USA the same thing happens
the following month it comes out in Australia
and since Asus LIMITED selling the EEE to Myers only
and RETAIL only its hard to get stock to sell in the wholesale
side of things and computer shops are forced to lose sales to
Myers and other retail shops .
Simular thing happened to the Wii console during Christmas 2007
it was so popular in Australia that every unit was sold out and
apprerntly theirs a 3 month wait in line to get one .
Now I dont know if this sort of thing is happening with the rest of the
world but you gotta wounder do companys really honnestly want to make
money these days when they LIMIT the amount of POPULAR products sold ?
I dont see any common sense in limiting the amount of units produced/ReLEASED
just to make the product seem more wanted by consumers , if people cant
buy the product in there country they will look for another product from another
company or import it from a country that has stock .
This we dont have enough power supply thing sounds like a lack of planning
from asus if it is really an issue . Why didnt they find a vendor that can fit the
demand of a popular item ?
February 25th, 2008 at 6:37 am
@ibisum:
Like Ronald said Germany isn’t europe.
Apart from UK and Germany, a lot, if not most other countries have a launch date in march or april. The reason the importer in Denmark gave was that they needed to localize it first. As if that really matters to people who visit English sites on the net every day.
February 25th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
These are some interesting ideas vis-a-vis “shortage* problems with parts delivery weather and other dubious excuses. Perhaps the ’suits’ at Asus were blind sided by the initial success of eeePC and some fo the tech problems with early released models and are now trying to rectify their supply and tech woes. Let us hope that they aren’t going take advantage of us with unwise business strategies.
February 25th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I love my Eee PC 4G.
However, I can’t say I’m as happy with North America Technical Support. My puppy chewed through the power cord on day 4! So I had an expensive Eee Paperweight until I could get it replaced. Email support was horrible, and no one ever got back to me of how to buy a replacement.
After a few phone calls (to Canadian support, laptop support number, and was redirected to the USA) I was told I could order a power supply but it would cost $79 and not be covered by any warranty, plus it could only be sent from the USA which means international brokerage fees from the courier company which could easily add another $50.
Great product! Horrible product release & roll out. The Canadian & American divisions of Asus should have been stocked with spare power supplies & batteries for those special circumstances. My only option was to purchase a second Eee PC and have a single power supply for them both.
Good thing I’m an electronics engineer, because I cut & spliced the cable back together. It’s not pretty, but it’s working ok and better than $100+ dollars for a replacement.
Now the accessories are advertised, but not sure about availability. I think I’ll just go with the 3rd party vendors popping up with accessories at much better prices.
February 25th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
tim Says:
(no offence meant 
)
“Maybe not the G8, but it’s absolutely impossible to get hold even of the G4 in continental Europe, which is a bit disappointing.”
@tim
I do not know where are you from, but this is simply not true. The EeePC should already be available in a number of European countries including: Germany, France, Portugal, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Bulgaria, etc. I got my in Sofia, Bulgaria in November and there were somewhat hard to obtain at first, but not anymore. You can choose between the white or black 4G in stores, or order online. Surfs are still more difficult to obtain.
@Garnet
Your dog chew on your power adapter cord and you expect this to be covered by the warranty? Wow, you North Americans are too spoiled by customer support
By the way, the official price for EeePC the power adapter accessory announced by Asus is $39.99USD and a UK web shop is offering third-party international traveler charging kits (including US, UK, European, Australia and New Zealand plug adapters) for 18GBP (~$36USD).
February 26th, 2008 at 3:41 am
this is weird somehow but interesting… power supply shortage!
February 26th, 2008 at 3:54 am
dog chew power cord and you expect it covered by warranty :DD Garnet you made my day!
February 26th, 2008 at 5:06 am
Garnet didn’t say he expected it free - if you read his post, he says “no one ever got back to me of how to buy a replacement”. He just didn’t expect to be quoted quite such an extortionate price.
February 26th, 2008 at 5:36 am
ok my bad, I just read Milen’s post and not Garet’s
Still it’s funny to read what happens to poor little EEEs - dropped prom 1 meter hights, chewed by dogs, coffee spilled over keyboard..
February 26th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Why not go to an electronics shop with the old power supply and simply buy a non-Asus replacement? I haven’t done this myself, but the adaptor tip looks like a common one. Does the power supply put out an uncommon voltage? I would think someplace like Radio Shack or whatever could offer a useable replacement for perhaps $20 or so.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
[...] [via eeeuser.com] [...]
March 10th, 2008 at 3:52 am
Yesterday I bought a Eeepc macbook,but i want to buy a leather case and a keyboard silicon skin or keyboard silicon case.
Has anyone used it? I saw a website to sell them,its website is http://www.allfreeship.com. should anyone tell me what’s your feeling?
Thank you!
March 25th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
I can’t find any universal power adapters that do 9.5V