The Asus App Store will offer Windows-based apps for Atom-powered netbooks in the second half of this year, with Moblin due in 2011.
Computex 2010 | On the third birthday of the Eee PC, which lit the touchpaper on the netbook revolution, Asus has gone public with the world’s first netbook app store – and somewhat surprisingly, it’s
not called the ‘Eee Store’.
The Asus App Store is being built on top of Intel’s AppUp Center, which provides an app store framework for Atom-compatible programs.
The client will be installed onto all Atom-powered Eee PC netbooks in the second half of the year. While only Windows apps will initially be featured, Asus says that software for the open-source MeeGo OS will appear on the store’s virtual shelves in 2011 – which also provides the clearest indication that Asus will adopt MeeGo for netbooks.
Speaking of netbooks, Asus’ new range of fourth-gen Eee PCs includes the Eee PC 1016, 1018 and Seashell 1015.
With the hardware and software platform for netbooks pretty much set in stone, Asus is relying on “distinctive designs and materials” as well as baked-in software and online services to differentiate its kit from the commoditised crowd.
This includes an aluminum chassis for the 1018 (shown above) and a soft-touch matte surface for the 1015, plus the company’s Super Hybrid Engine power management tools to extend battery life on the Intel Atom ‘Pinetrail’ platform to a claimed 13.5 hours between charges.
David Flynn is visiting Computex 2010 in Taipei as a guest of Intel.