Asus Raising Prices On All Portable Notebooks & Eee PCs

ARN reported last week that Asus will increase prices on all existing and upcoming notebooks
and Eee Family products effective March 1, 2009. With some models seeing an increase of up to 20 percent.

The current financial climate and an increase in the cost of computer parts and manufacturing operations were cited as reasons behind the price hikes.

The rise in cost of the portable Eee netbook PCs might be the first in a growing trend. The netbook market reportedly increased by 160% from the second to third quarter of 2008 and manufactures might be looking to cash in on the popularity of the devices. We've already seen Microsoft riding the coat tails of the devices popularity by making a strong push for adding Windows 7 to netbooks. So its possible we are seeing a little back sliding by manufactures trying to recoup some of the losses they faced in other segments last year.

Asus reported their first ever loss in the 4th quarter of last year. A drop on PC demand, increasing competition in the netbook market as well as below-expectation shipments of motherboards and graphics cards all contributed to the companies losses.

If thes rumors of a price increase are true it could mean that Asus is riding the netbook wave to boost profits. I really wouldn't be surprised if we see other manufactures trying to follow suite by boosting prices. The key to the netbooks popularity however was the low cost ultra portable design. The market might not hold with even the slightest increase in pricing.