Everybody's jumping on the Eee PC bandwagon
(Credit:
A-Data)
We like the Asus Eee PC as much as anyone else, but does this $499 mini-notebook really need its own line of third-party branded accessories?
A-Data, a Taiwanese company that calls itself "The Global Leading Brand of Memory Products," is introducing two Eee-PC-branded accessories, a USB flash drive and an SD memory card.
A-Data says, "One of the limitations of Asus's Eee PC is the limited storage," and while the 8GB SD card is already double the capacity of the Eee PC's standard built-in 4GB SSD hard drive (other options are available), you could really use any brand of card in the system's SD card slot.
The same could be said of the 8GB USB memory stick, although the Eee-PC-branded version does include a white leather strap, if that's your kind of thing.
(Credit:
A-Data)
No word on U.S. pricing or availability yet--but everyone we know treats USB keys and SD cards as commodity products, so we don't expect a big market for up-sell versions. Although the Eee PC has become such a cult hit, so we can't rule it out.
We'll give the final word to one of our Asus contacts, who wearily told us recently that he was going to get "Eee PC" tattooed on his forehead, because that's all anyone wants to talk to him about lately.
New York native Dan Ackerman, a former radio DJ turned journalist, has written about technology and music for publications including Spin, Blender, The Hollywood Reporter, and USA Today. He hosts the weekly Digital City podcast and the New York edition of Editors' Office Hours. Dan's new album, Tales Out of Night School, is available now. E-mail Dan. 
