Asustek: $200 Eee PC coming in 2009

During its quarterly earnings call with investors, Asustek said it plans to drop the price of its already inexpensive line of Eee PCs even further next year.

The original Eee PC from Asus, launched a year ago.

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET Networks)

Asustek President Jerry Shen said that by 2009 his company will offer an entry-level Eee PC beginning at $200.

The motherboard and notebook manufacturer also gave an accounting of how the Eee PC is doing.

The company shipped 1.7 million Eee PCs during the quarter, and expects to ship 1.8 million during the next quarter, which includes the holiday shopping season. In its first quarter on the market a year ago, 350,000 Eee PCs were shipped.

Shen also let on that over time, that won't include the smaller 7-inch and 8-inch Eee PCs, which will be phased out in favor of 10-inch Netbooks.

Asustek also noted that while it ships both Netbooks with hard drives and solid-state drives, those with hard disks represent 70 percent of the total shipments. Seventy percent of its Eee PCs are also shipped with Windows XP, and 30 percent with Linux.