Asus to ship 1.8 million tablets in 2011, says Windows 8 will overtake iOS

[Jos]

Asus chief executive Jerry Shen talked about his expectations for the tablet market ahead of the November 9 launch of the new Asus Transformer Prime. Speaking to DigiTimes, Shen said the company is on track to ship 1.8 million tablets by the end of this year, and said Asus would launch a two additional tablets in February 2012.

The company has already sold 1.2 million tablets between the popular Eee Pad Transformer and the less successful Sliders. With the quad-core Transformer Prime arriving this month, Asus should be able to move the remaining 600,000 units or more by the end of 2011. The netbook/tablet hybrid will be powered by Nvidia's Tegra 3 SoC and feature a 10-inch screen, 8.3mm thick chassis, built-in USB, mini-HDMI port, SD slot and 14+ hour battery life. It will also be Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich upgradable in December, though the tablet will launch with Android 3.x Honeycomb.

Shen didn't elaborate on the two additional models launching early next year, but one is assumed to be the Padfone -- a 4.3-inch smartphone that comes with a 10.1-inch tablet dock -- while the other remains a mystery. It could be a 7-inch Eee Pad Transformer with a lower price tag or perhaps a 3G version of the Transformer Prime.

The CEO was also optimistic about Microsoft's future in the tablet industry with the arrival of Windows 8 next year, claiming its familiar user experience will help it overtake Apple's iOS and Android as the mainstream platform of choice. Recently leaked slides suggest Asus has a couple of Windows 8 tablets coming up during Q3 2012.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/46093-asus-to-ship-18-million-tablets-in-2011-says-windows-8-will-overtake-ios.html

 

[dotVezz]

Exciting! Jose, where did you get the information about the Transformer Prime being a Honeycomb tablet? As far as I've seen (Including the video that the image is from), we don't know what OS it will have. And you said that it's coming next month (December)? Once again, can we please have some references?

 

[princeton]

dotvezz said:
Exciting! Jose, where did you get the information about the Transformer Prime being a Honeycomb tablet? As far as I've seen (Including the video that the image is from), we don't know what OS it will have. And you said that it's coming next month (December)? Once again, can we please have some references?

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?....130631823672514.22426.127204164015280&type=1

I know company Facebook posts are not always correct but it tells us that ICS will be an update shortly after the launch.

 

[Jos]

And you said that it's coming next month (December)? Once again, can we please have some references?

I meant this month (November), small lapsus.

 

[dotVezz]

Princeton said:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?....130631823672514.22426.127204164015280&type=1

I know company Facebook posts are not always correct but it tells us that ICS will be an update shortly after the launch.

Hmm, is this for Transformer or Transformer Prime? Either way, I'll be happy as long as I get ICS soon XD.

Jos Said:
I meant this month (November), small lapsus.

Oh, cool! Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Does anyone know if you buy the Asus Transformer Prime and it comes with Andriod, can you later upgrade the OS to be of Microsoft 8? I am new to the understanding of OS but I need Microsoft for the MS Office suite. I would like to go ahead and get the Prime when it is released so that I may use it for eReading on text books but if I can't transfer the OS type down the road to Microsoft 8 then I am not sure if it is worth buying it now. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Guest]

It will also be priced out of the market as has every other tablet before it. I'm loving my $99 HP Touchpad but I wouldn't pay more or much more for one. They all seem to want $500 or sacrifice a smaller screen which is useless too,

 

[Guest]

Just use the web version of Microsoft Office.

 

[princeton]

dotvezz said:
Hmm, is this for Transformer or Transformer Prime? Either way, I'll be happy as long as I get ICS soon XD.

It says "Unfortunately a date has not been determined but we can confirm that the Asus Eee pad Transformer, Eee pad transformer prime and Eee pad Slider are going to be updated."

 

[aj_the_kidd]

Guest said:
Does anyone know if you buy the Asus Transformer Prime and it comes with Andriod, can you later upgrade the OS to be of Microsoft 8? I am new to the understanding of OS but I need Microsoft for the MS Office suite. I would like to go ahead and get the Prime when it is released so that I may use it for eReading on text books but if I can't transfer the OS type down the road to Microsoft 8 then I am not sure if it is worth buying it now. Any help would be appreciated!

In short no, however chances are someone will figure it out it put up a guide, i would just google it after win8 comes out. Personally I would wait for the actual Win8 tablets, though that will be a while, Q3 2012 i think?

FYI if you plan on creating documents from scratch on a tablet and it needs a great deal of formatting, i would strong advice against it, its more trouble then its worth, but if you want to make some minor adjustments here and there then its OK.