The Asus Eee PC as Disruptive Technology

Blogger Rick Moynihan has written an interesting perspective in his The Sources Mouth blog on the Asus Eee PC being disruptive technology.

"Laptops have (until now) tended to follow an unwritten law of small gadgets; the smaller it is the more you'll pay. However the Eee seems to mark a reversal of the trend. We're now seeing the law of mobility combined with commodity hardware, meaning one of the smallest laptops available is also the cheapest and most valuable in terms of its utility.

The real disruption however; isn't in how it's defining a new market for cheap, super small, capable laptops, but it's in how it nicely packages free and open alternatives to the two biggest monopolies in the technology industry, Microsoft Windows and Office. This strategy accompanied by their recent announcement to release an SDK and support the community should only serve to foster a strong community and potential competitor."

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The Asus Eee PC has indeed redefined the model for mobile hardware - small need no longer mean more expensive. It has also redefined open source software in making them usable and friendly enough for computer novices.

Disruptive? Definitely, especially to the big players. New technology? Not really. And that is the marvel of the Asus Eee PC. It has succeeded in becoming a disruptive technology without using new technology - practically all of its parts are off-the-shelf components.