Wake up and touch a tablet

Taipei-based market researcher Trendforce Innovation forecasts ultrabooks will account for 2 percent of overall notebook computer shipments this year and expects them to grow to 10 percent then and there year. This pales in comparison with Intel's ambitious target of a 40 percent market share then year.

The personal computer industry

With 20 years of experience in the personal computer industry, Asustek is truly capable of offering a notebook computer that performs so then. Nevertheless, it did not make any mention of what content, music, video or entertainment services would be available on the Zenbook series. Cloud-computing services received no mention at all.

Granted, Asustek is just selling the hardware, nevertheless its new offering fails to deliver the stylistic design that it needs if it in effect wants to challenge Apple.

What caused the lack of wow while Asustek's launch

This mindset is what caused the lack of wow while Asustek's launch. People were left not knowing what, if anything, new things they would be able to do with this machine or how it could make their lives better. Innovation excites people when it offers evidently defined improvements to life.

PC companies, Taiwanese brands in particular, should heed the warning signs and quickly devise countermeasures because Wintel's dominance is showing major cracks. They can start by asking: Are ultrabooks a new breed of PC that can as a matter of fact appeal to consumers? Or are they just a last ditch effort by PC firms likely to crumple in the face of competition from tablets and smartphones?