| ASUS Eee PC goes on sale almost everywhere Down Under |
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| Written by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Monday, 14 January 2008 | |
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Myer stores in other cities started selling the Eee PC from Monday Dec 3, with the same thing happening: rapid sales leading to ‘sold out’ signs in major capital cities by the end of the day, although some ‘metropolitan stores’ outside of the CBD areas of capital cities still had ‘limited quantities’. Since then, the mania over the Eee PC has been as strong in Australia as it has been elsewhere in the world, thanks to the Eee PC being a remarkably powerful, useful and portable computer at a price in the low three figures – something totally opposite to ‘ultra portable notebook PC’ vendors whose tiny models usually come with towering price tags. Available in white and now black, the Eee PC (which stands for ‘easy to learn, easy to work and easy to play’), ASUS today announced it is extending distribution of the Eee PC to major Australian retailers beyond Myer, something we thought would have to happen given the Eee’s allure, and given the fact we saw the white model Eee PC on sale at Officeworks for AUD $488 - $11 cheaper than the official recommended retail price. So the full list of Eee retailers now includes Betta Electrical, David Jones, The Good Guys, Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Myer, Officeworks, Retravision and WOW Sight & Sound. There’s no mention of Bing Lee, Clive Peeters, Big W, Kmart, Target or other retailers, but the list ASUS now has on board is still quite impressive and places the Eee PC in reach of Australians just about anywhere they are. About the only surprise is really Clive Peeters, whose tagline of ‘e... e... easy’ dovetails nicely with the name of the Eee PC. Ted Chen, Managing Director of ASUS Australia, said, “The Eee PC has taken Australia by storm, fascinating the public and captivating the media. Due to the tremendous enthusiasm the Eee PC has generated, ASUS is pleased to be extending distribution to Australia’s major retailers to meet consumer demand.” “The Eee PC has been moving fast since it hit Myer stores in December 2007 and continues to do so. So far approximately 80% of stock has been sold through major Australian retailers and we are trying to get as much allocation as possible from our headquarters to ensure there is stock on shelves. There is a high demand for the Eee PC worldwide and Australia is no exception!” The open nature of the Eee PC is also in stark contrast to the world’s other super popular and portable device, the iPhone. Although the Eee PC comes pre-loaded with Linux, ASUS themselves offer a downloadable disc of drivers, allowing Eee PC owners to easily install Windows XP onto the Eee, while more adventurous users have installed Windows Vista and even the Mac OS X onto the device. There’s no doubt that future Eee PC models promise more storage and other improvements, but any future models are likely several months away from retail sale, but as the Eee PC is still so new, if you want one, they’ve never been more widely available.
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