7-inch Eee PC to be phased out

The 7-inch screen sized Eee PC netbook, made by Taiwanese company Asus, is to be phased out in mature markets, according to ZDNet UK.

Company chairman, Jonney Shih, said in a press conference at the CeBIT technology show on Tuesday that the company would be focusing its efforts on 10-inch netbooks, as customers prefer them to the smaller models however, Shih denied reports that Asus would be phasing out its 8.9-inch netbooks as well.

Shih said, "It seems that customers prefer to have a greater screen, which also means a larger keyboard. I still believe we have a good opportunity in 8.9-inch for kids, telecoms [providers] or emerging markets. The seven-inch [netbook] is going to be phased out, although some emerging countries may still have some demand."

The company also announced a slight rebranding of itself and the Eee PC, changing its motto from "Rock Solid. Heart Touching" to "Inspiring Innovation. Persistent Perfection", and changing the meaning of the Eee PC's acronym from "Easy to learn, easy to work, easy to play" to "Easy, excellent, exciting." When Shih was asked by ZDNet UK if he felt that Asus was "at risk of diluting the Eee brand" he said that Asus does not want to "treat the brand as a low-cost notebook concept".

"The PC has to proliferate into [other] digital appliances. It will enable far more people to enjoy the digital life. 'Eee' is a sub-brand to enhance the Asus brand, but also with a little bit of differentiation," he said.

You can read a Neowin review of the 10-inch Asus Eee PC 1000 here.