Eee hard drive, optical drive, and 3G card continue to reduce meaning of Eee brand
By Nilay Patel 
posted July 24th 2008 4:04PM
posted July 24th 2008 4:04PM
Okay, so there's clearly a tube that dispenses marshmallows to the ASUS marketing department whenever it comes up with another product to slap the Eee brand on, because this just getting silly. In addition to the countless Eee laptops, Eee Box desktop, Eee monitor, Eee televisions, and other Eee-branded crap, we're hearing the company is working on a line of accessories, including an external hard drive, optical drive, and WWAN card. None of this is official quite yet, but knowing ASUS, it'll be out in 30 different varieties by the end of the month.
there's nothing wrong with continuing a brand. there is a problem between informed consumers and a company's audacity to continue to extend it's product line without ever having delivered on it's original promises.
Does that mean that when the 2G Surf drops to $200 you'll stop your judgements? Cause right now it's at $300 which is pretty close. You might even be able to get it for less than that. Oh, is the screen is too small, not enough RAM, HD space? Yeah, lots of people complained about that too and so they released more models. Unfortunately those things cost more.
cant wait for Eee toilet paper
You don't have to buy all that stuff, remember..
As long as they keep producing those nice little cheap laptops, it's fine!
Anyone who couldn't care less of products marketed with a letter, say: i
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Eeek!
Pretty amazing how Asus went from being the darling of Engadget, to this.
The loss of meaning in the EEEpc name has really kept me from buying one. I almost bought one when they first came out, but heard a new one was coming out. Little did I know that FIFTY more were coming out, but that's just me. BTW, I really want an EEEoilet too.
STOP IT!
I guess you guys didn't hear that Gene Simmons is the new CEO of ASUS. At least, I would assume that is true because only he could dilute a brand so quickly. I can't wait for the EEE coffin to put next to my Kiss coffin.
Eeeeewwww
With the amount of releases coming from the Eee brand, I think its about time you spun off the Eee Engadget site so we can see the dozens of new models released daily in a nice and tidy specialty site. :P
I am actually surprised the our buddy Stevie J hasn't slapped a lawsuit on them for infringing on his copyright of killing a letter of the alphabet!
Everyone is freaking out, why is that? ASUS has been known for it's quality products for years now. They also have a huge product line as well. This is just a new market and they are taking the financial reins and testing the waters as to what we the consumers want. Who cares if they are taking a risk, don't buy what you don't want, they'll get the message, and I believe that's what they're doing.
PS I was never into laptops, never wanted one, never thought I'd by one, too big, they don't last long, etc. My 901 arrives tomorrow. What good is portability if the batteries run out after one long movie? Then you might as well be carrying around a brick, USELESS!
ASUS, nail on the head with the 901, kudos.
Overspecialize and breed in cheapness its the begining of the Eees slow death.
Overspecialize and breed in cheapness...its the over saturation death of the Eee.
Well, this is stupid, but are you really going to flog something as inconsequential as a naming scheme? Come on, these guys started the netbook craze and should be thanked by all the copycats and their customers. My next computer is definitely going to be an eee because of that, and if their branded peripherals work and are the best deals, then I could end up with a few of them.
all these extra products are really... Geee
Nah, wait until they come out with the Star Wars tie-in Eeewoks and the new Ferrari sports car, the Ferrari Eeenzo.
It would be funny to see this turn into a real Buy N' Large in the sense that it makes everything we need, from Eeenglish textbooks to (s)Eeex toys and the odd (br)Eeead maker.
It won't be long until we sleep in bEeeds, wear Eee pajamas, wear Eee shaped glasses, and vote for people to serve in the SEeenate and the WhitEee HousEee.
hmm, actually, this is not as far off as a third party labeling i-Something for the Apple stuffs. Besides, the items that is featured is already in the pipeline to be released anyway. is that an ExpressCard34 adaptor i see? So it can be used other than just for the 3G carrd?
oh please. stop with the GarbagEEE.
Coming soon: EEErotic art!
ASUS should hire the ex-TW President Chen Shui-Bian for marketing.
ASUS is not getting more profit on expanding the Eee brand than developing a separated accessory line and keep the Eee brand unique on sublaptop.
Accessories for Eee PC notebooks and Eee Box computers are exactly the kinds of things the Eee brand should be used for. Just because the company has released too many Eee PC notebook models for most people to keep track of them all does not mean that *ANY* further use of the brand reduces its meaning. Think about it: does Nintendo dilute its Wii brand by including the Wii logo on various controllers and countless games? No. If Nintendo were to offer a first-party Wii-branded display peripheral for the Wii, would that dilute the brand? No.
You know what's really overused? Snarky headlines that aren't even clever or funny.
The Eee was reasonably cool when it was a line of mininote's and what not but now this is just ridiculous. They can count me out of any future business with anything Eee branded.
well
i think ASUS is doing the right thing
with technology you really have new things every week
and if you dun make it
sooner or later somebody else will
its better than apple's "i" idea since the "eee" actually means something reasonably priced
and with ASUS constantly upgrading and making accesorries
we wont see something like HUGE duo core DEsktop that costs $3k but can be build for like $500 (apple)
no
ASUS should hire Bill clinton...
LAWL!! I have hated this company for YEARS! And over a matter of $100. I've always told people who ask me about the eee that they should consider the reliability of a company who has a person dedicated to a post to handle people who have gotten 3 replacement products and still have a non-working product. I gave up after they sent me 5 bad products. And it's not sort-of bad, they were outright f'd up. This company is run by some of the most idiotic people I have dealt with in all my years. Simply amazing how they got where they are. F you ASUS, I hope you choke on your own vomit in the middle of the night and nobody finds you for a few months. And then only because of the rotting smell you left behind.
EEse ees good. Sorry Engadget I do agree with the stupid number of of the EeePC variants but this is just a good idea. IN other words.. You fail!
Leave it to Asus to take a perfectly feasible idea (a functional, cheap laptop) and run it straight into the ground. The Eee brand has completely lost focus of what it was trying to achieve... die.