My opinion comes down 180 degrees from the article Author.
The full name of the brand is "Eee PC", not just "Eee" - a mistake the article author makes. It's clumsy and inelegant, too long, nobody says the whole thing, and if you say it aloud it sounds the same as "EPC" which isn't good for literal word of mouth -- no google result for EPC sends you the right way.
Asus is fighting an uphill battle here. Not only does nobody know what an Eee PC is, they don't know what an Asus is. I have been geeking since I was a toddler and I know Asus makes motherboards, but even I don't know if they're any good. They sound too much like Acer, a company that does make PCs, but not the one you care about in this case. In fact, in my free association exercise I think Asus -> Acer -> monitor for my friend's Packard Bell 486 a long time ago. Uphill battle indeed.
In fact, I didn't even know Asus made ready to buy computers, until I visited their site and recognized one that a coworker owns and is quite proud of.
Furthermore, if you search for Asus on google, the first hit is for "ASUS International" and the second hit is for "ASUSTek Computer Inc.". Even they don't know what their brand is.
These are great gadgets but their branding is screwed, stem to stern. They've pretty much rendered themselves ineligible to be a premium / high margin provider in this field. The consolation prize is they know how to play the cut-throat margins game, so they can at least work that angle.
If I was running the show I'd rename Eee to something that prounounced easily and spelled like it sounded, and then anchor that as the brand name. Move the current products under that name, so the "Asus Eee PC Surf" would become a "WhateverBrand Surf". After building that brand up move the entire Asus prebuilt laptop line under a sub-brand of the new company name. As now, position as a company that makes easy to use computers, differentiate by using customized and streamlined Linux. Sell the main product with a clear slogan (think "Just big enough" without the obvious phallic misinterpretation), and maybe they'd have a consumer brand that they could build from.
The full name of the brand is "Eee PC", not just "Eee" - a mistake the article author makes. It's clumsy and inelegant, too long, nobody says the whole thing, and if you say it aloud it sounds the same as "EPC" which isn't good for literal word of mouth -- no google result for EPC sends you the right way.
ASUS isn't even pronounced the intuitive way (for English speakers): http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/eee-pc/how-to-pronounce-eee-pc-32... -- it's evidently pronounced ah-SOOs, not AY-suhs. Branding faux-pas (fox-pass, if you please).
Asus is fighting an uphill battle here. Not only does nobody know what an Eee PC is, they don't know what an Asus is. I have been geeking since I was a toddler and I know Asus makes motherboards, but even I don't know if they're any good. They sound too much like Acer, a company that does make PCs, but not the one you care about in this case. In fact, in my free association exercise I think Asus -> Acer -> monitor for my friend's Packard Bell 486 a long time ago. Uphill battle indeed.
In fact, I didn't even know Asus made ready to buy computers, until I visited their site and recognized one that a coworker owns and is quite proud of.
Furthermore, if you search for Asus on google, the first hit is for "ASUS International" and the second hit is for "ASUSTek Computer Inc.". Even they don't know what their brand is.
These are great gadgets but their branding is screwed, stem to stern. They've pretty much rendered themselves ineligible to be a premium / high margin provider in this field. The consolation prize is they know how to play the cut-throat margins game, so they can at least work that angle.
If I was running the show I'd rename Eee to something that prounounced easily and spelled like it sounded, and then anchor that as the brand name. Move the current products under that name, so the "Asus Eee PC Surf" would become a "WhateverBrand Surf". After building that brand up move the entire Asus prebuilt laptop line under a sub-brand of the new company name. As now, position as a company that makes easy to use computers, differentiate by using customized and streamlined Linux. Sell the main product with a clear slogan (think "Just big enough" without the obvious phallic misinterpretation), and maybe they'd have a consumer brand that they could build from.