ASUS ships Eee Pad Transformer as its Android 3.0 tablet
ASUS on Friday began shipping the Eee Pad Transformer as its first real entry into the mobile tablet space. The Android 3.0 tablet earns its name through a keyboard dock that gives it a more notebook-like design.
Context & Ripple Effects
ASUS had been building toward this since teasing the [[a:none|Eee Pad]] alongside its Eee Slate ahead of CES in December 2010; shipping the Transformer on March 25 converts that teaser into its first real tablet product. The keyboard dock is the differentiator — the same slate doubles as a notebook-class device, which matters because ASUS built its brand on the netbook category the tablet is now cannibalizing.
The launch lands mid-race rather than at its start: Android 3.0 tablets are arriving as a wave in 2011, and contemporaneous commentary already framed Android's momentum as bearing down on BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, while one analyst predicted — as an unconfirmed call — that 2011 would see Android explode on improving networks.
First-order effects
- ASUS now competes head-to-head in tablets with its own notebook franchise at stake, using the dock to position the Transformer as an upgrade path for netbook buyers rather than a second device purchase.
- RIM faces another Android 3.0 entrant at exactly the moment commentators describe Android as a 'freight train' bearing down on the BlackBerry maker's tablet ambitions.
Second-order effects
- Rival Android licensees are pushed to differentiate on accessories and form factors rather than specs alone, since the dock sets a template for convertible slates in the same price conversation.
- ASUS's component and ODM suppliers gain a volume anchor in a new category, shifting some of the company's manufacturing emphasis away from pure notebooks toward hybrid designs.
Third-order effects
- If the dock-plus-slate pattern holds across vendors, the netbook segment ASUS helped create dissolves into convertible tablets, forcing PC makers to choose between defending legacy laptop lines and joining the Android tablet race.
- A successful 2011 Android tablet wave — as analysts predicted but could not confirm — would consolidate Google's OS as the default alternative to Apple's iPad, reshaping carrier and retailer shelf space around Android inventory.
The trend: Tablets and notebooks are converging into keyboard-docked hybrids, with ASUS converting its CES-stage tablet bets into shipped Android 3.0 hardware during 2011's platform land-grab.