Olevia move from TVs to Netbooks PCs

This is the first netbook offering from Olevia, the Olevia P10. A 10.1 inch device that Olevia hopes will herald their march into the markets of the West. This is interesting because Olevia already has a presence in the US and is one of the first major Chinese consumer electronics players to attempt to leverage their brand to sell netbook PCs in the US. Is this the first of a deluge of Chinese brands that will soon flood the US market?

Olevia are based in Shenzhen, China and have been around for a while, cultivating a relatively positive name for themselves producing mainstream consumer electronic products that include decent looking HDTVs and DVD and Blu-ray players among other things. This is their first foray into the highly competitive netbook market however, and they've sought out some substantial backing by working with Great Wall, a major Chinese OEM that is part of the very substantial Great Wall Group.



Although not strictly shanzhai in the sense that I'm sure Olevia have been around for a while and precede the current shanzhai phenomena, they have grown and evolved in the same geographical location and will now be hardwired to the shanzhai eco-system around them. In fact Olevio, and their attempts at establishing a real brand image for a Western audience, are almost post-shanzhai, though they will still of course be able to leverage the distinct adavantages that the shanzhai enjoy i.e. really low cost components and labor, really fast  and aggressive design cycles and a willingness to experiment and innovate outside of traditional device boundaries.



The P10 device itself is not exactly a technological revolution, but it certainly lives up to what we would consider to be an entry-level netbook. The screen is 10.1-incher with a resolution of 1024 x 600, Atom N270 1.6Ghz processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, 802.11b / g Wi-Fi wireless networking, audio, card reader etc. If you're no Windows lover, you can also opt for a Linux install - although exactly what distro remains unkown. So far no word on price either.

Looking at the device itself, especially the chassis, it's got that annoying shininess about it that will attract every finger print within a 1km radius. And talk about clunky. This baby is no thin and light. In fact it's almost industrial, such is the thickness of it.

Olevia do have one major advantage. The sales channel. If they have successfully manged to cultivate relationships in the West to get their TVs and DVD players on store shelves, then have already completed one half of the puzzle. Right now, I would hope that Olevia try and develop their marketing. US consumers, like all Western consumers, are used to slick, creative marketing. Anything less will be a major turn off. However having said that, my experience is that Chinese businesses are used to marketing on price, a strategy that will ultimately fail in the West. After all, how many Acers can the world sustain?

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Gadget Types - Notebooks & Netbooks