Asus Caught Off Guard by High Demand for Eee Pad Transformer

Back when the tablet market consisted solely of the iPad, we dreamed of a time when Android would come swooping in and save the day with faster, less expensive tablets. That day finally came when Asus launched its Eee Pad Transformer, and lo and behold, there’s a market for such a device, one that’s apparently bigger than Asus anticipated.

We’re not sure why Asus is surprised that a $400 dual-core Tegra 2 tablet built around Google’s Honeycomb platform is getting so much attention, but the company claims the reason for the current shortage has nothing to do with component shortages and everything to do with higher than anticipated demand.

When asked by Netbooknews.com how many Eee Pad Transformers Asus is cranking out, company spokesperson David Chang said Asus produced 100,000 units in May, with another 200,000+ units landing on store shelves in June. He was also unwilling to confirm recent rumors suggesting that key component shortages is the reason why the Eee Pad Transformer is in short supply.

“We will see a significant alleviation in the month of June, ” Chang said. “If the demand continues to increase substantially then we will have to continue to ramp up production in order to fulfill our customers’ demand… The current demand surpasses our expectations by far.”

Maximum Tech’s take: Let this be a lesson to other other tablet makers. While we’ve seen some impressive $500 and $600 tablets, the ones who will be rewarded the most are those that can deliver fast, feature-rich slates at netbook prices.