The first two big-brand netbooks based on this platform have been announced, but neither are available on the market just yet. The first of them, the Samsung N510, has been priced at USD 599, which is easily twice that of some other netbooks on the market, and even worse, features the Ion LE platform, a hamstrung version of the Ion platform limited to DirectX 9.0 which will reduce its performance in Windows 7.

The other announced Ion platform is the Lenovo S12 which has had its release delayed until late October to coincide with the launch of Windows 7. However, this too, looks to be heading towards a price tag upwards of the USD 500 mark, especially given the hike in price that should accompany devices that come with the new OS installed.

It’s been widely reported that Intel is less than delighted with the Ion concept and are fairly unwilling to supply Atom processors separate from the Intel 945GSE and 945GC chipsets with which the CPUs usually come with. NVIDIA have also commented that Intel ups the price of an Atom chip significantly when it’s not sold with an Intel chipset. The upshot is that there are some significant barriers to mainstream acceptance of Ion.

It’s in situations like this that the Shanzhai guys can really shine. Small players who rely on innovation, speed and flexibility, the Shanzhai vendors aren’t subject to the pressures Intel can exert on the bigger players and are able to get away with things (as we’ve seen with the recent >10.1” screen Atom netbooks) that others can not.

And so, we end up with devices like this one from CASZH, due to hit the market shortly.



A few initial specs:
Processor: Intel Atom 230（1.6G）
Memory: 1GB RAM
Graphics: GeForce 9400M
HDD: 160GB
Screen: 10.1 inch, 1024 X 600,
Connectivity: Wi-Fi
Battery: 3-cell battery
Ports: 2 USB, RJ45, HDMI, earphone，mic and card reader.

Western Opportunity Analysis: