Samsung Electronics may produce a cheaper version of its new Q1 Ultra ultra-mobile PC in a bid to boost sales, a senior company executive said Thursday. "In order to have more users who can afford this kind of product, we are thinking of coming up with a second version," said H.S. Kim, executive vice president and general manager of Samsung"s computer division, speaking at the launch of the Q1 Ultra at the annual Cebit exhibition in Hanover, Germany. Samsung won"t yet disclose the price of the Q1 Ultra, which will hit store shelves around the world in May. But executives said the device will be priced similarly to its predecessor, the Q1, which retails for around $1,300, depending on the processor and system configuration.
Samsung is counting on the Q1 Ultra to sell two or three times more units than the Q1, which has so far sold less than 100,000 units, Kim said. This is where the possibility of a second version comes in to play: lower costs could make the device appeal to more users, driving up sales. Kim declined to comment further on the successor to the Q1 Ultra. Given the high-end specifications of the model announced this week, there are several areas where costs could be cut.