The name that made "netbook" popular hasn't waned in the face of increasing competition, Asus is expecting healthy sales to carry them through the rest of the year. Even as they face down HP, Dell, Acer, MSI and others, Asus is expecting their ultra-thin market to perform very well this year. The company is forecasting that it will ship an additional 600,000 units before 2009 ends. If true, it will bring their yearly total near or beyond one million units -- which represents a good chunk of the anticipated sale of 12 million notebooks.

The biggest hurdle for ultra-thins, Asus says, is cost. Netbook and budget notebooks are capitalizing on the value-per-dollar factor in a way that hurts the appeal of ultra-thin systems. They believe that perception will shift after making some improvements to ultra-thin devices, which will range from functionality and battery life, to price. The company's recent endeavors show that they are a small but important player in the notebook market.

It also further demonstrates the increasing demand for smaller-profile mobile computers, which can include netbooks and ultra-thins. Asus' market share in particular has risen to almost 6%, which is largely due to their foresight of how important compact laptops would become.