During a recent ASUS HQ opening here in Singapore, VR-Zone has the opportunity to talk to Benson Lin, the President of APAC Business to learn about the direction and plans of ASUS here in APAC as well as some upcoming interesting product lines we can look out for.

VR-Zone : How does ASUS plans to compete with other leading notebook brands like Acer, Dell, Lenovo in this region? How much notebook market share ASUS does aims to grab?

Benson : According to IDC report last year, ASUS is No. 5 in APAC overall. The countries that have the highest growth are Australia, Taiwan, China, Thailand and Indonesia. Malaysia is doing fine and No.3 in Philippines. Singapore still has rooms for growth. ASUS notebook will get stronger and stronger every year.

VR-Zone : Can you talk more about the tie-up with Lamborghini and if Intel has played an important role here?

Benson : Frankly speaking, the tie-up between Acer, AMD and Ferrari is good because they co-work, co-plan and help each other. Intel, Lamborghini and ASUS share the same idea and come together. Intel and Lamborghini are finding a suitable vendor to design the notebook and asked ASUS whether if they can design Intel-based Lamborghini notebook. However the specifications and design must be better than the red competitor but the price is higher too.


VR-Zone : Can you tell me more about ASUS "R1F" tablet PC? You know Samsung has just launched the Q1 UMPC. Does ASUS plan to release UMPC anytime soon?

Benson : ASUS is going to release the R1F Table PC in Q3 this year. As for the UMPC, ASUS will launch it in Q3 also. ASUS feels that UMPC is rather niche market and is meant more for commercial users.


VR-Zone : Will we be seeing ASUS mobile phones in Singapore anytime soon?

Benson : ASUS will launch their mobile phone this quarter in June with P525 PDA Phone. It will feature Skype, WiFi, GPRS and Bluetooth and it will cost over S$ 1000.

VR-Zone : What is the launch schedule like for ASUS LCD TVs? How will ASUS position itself against the current market leaders like Samsung, Sharp and Sony.

Benson : ASUS is going to launch their LCD TVs in Taiwan later this year and for the rest of the countries, it will depend on the validation and certification process for each country. ASUS will position itself against other major LCD players through style, features and functions to differentiate themselves.


VR-Zone : Will ASUS consider to engage a global spokeman? For example, LG has Lee Young Ae as their spokeman and just recently, Lenovo has engaged world-class soccer player Ronaldinho as their brand ambassador.

Benson : No. ASUS is concerned that the reputation of their brand will be affected by the appointed spokeman if there is any scandal arises.