Interesting Asustek Eee PC interview: 3.8m units in 2008?

DigiTimes recently interviewed Jonney Shih, CEO of Asustek and Jonathan Tseng, president of Asustek on the Asus Eee PC and there's some interesting viewpoints in there, not to mention some aggressive sales numbers. The whole interview is here for your reading pleasure; see if you have the same struggle reading it as I did. (Every time the CEO answers a question, I feel like someone is shushing me... let me know if you get that reference). Some highlights:

• The Eee PC is a secondary profit line, so low gross margins have little to no business impact on the company.
• Asustek expects to sell at least 3.8 million Eee PCs through 2008.
• The target audience is women and children.
• Intended use for the Asus Eee PC is a secondary device. That sounds familiar...
• I may have found someone shorter than me in the industry based on the DigiTimes picture of Jonney Shih. Really! Look at how big the Eee appears in comparison to him. Maybe I should strike the same pose with Eeegor and we can have a vote? I'll have to look for him at CES for a photo opp now...

Comments

[ArchiMark]

Kevin, I concur with your comments...quite an 'interesting' interview....

However, you didn't mention this Q&A, which I thought was interesting....

Q: Will Asustek outsource the Eee PC and branded notebook products to outside OEMs after the spin-off of Pegatron and Unihan in January?

A (Tseng): Currently, the Eee PC and branded notebook products are both manufactured by Asustek and during the initial stages of the spin-off the products will be outsourced to Pegatron. However, in the long-term outsourcing to outside OEMs is the natural direction for a branded vendor.

[Mike Cane]

Rev 2 of Eee: Put a twist hinge on that screen so it can fold over the keyboard, make the unit thinner -- oops, instant death of Sony Reader and amazon Kindle. They can then call them Eeebooks.

[Alslayer]

That made me laugh Mike.
:)

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Alslayer: don't encourage him. ;)