AST to Introduce 2 Small Computers : Competition: Plans to market notebook-sized laptops that can be upgraded herald tougher rivalry in crowded field.
Personal computer maker AST Research Inc. said Friday it plans to introduce two notebook-sized computers that can be upgraded to suit a user’s growing performance requirements.
While AST is a late entrant to the crowded $2.1-billion laptop computer market, computer analysts said the machines have advanced features and will cost less than half the price of its nearest competitor.
“When you’ve got an outstanding product with the right features and the right price, it’s always the right time (to introduce it),” said James W. Ashbrook, AST senior vice president of worldwide marketing.
Analysts said the introduction will create more competition in an already crowded field. InfoCorp, a market research firm in Santa Clara, reports there are more than 20 companies that are either developing or selling notebook computers. The firm estimates sales of notebook machines, generally eight pounds or lighter, increased 231% in 1990 to 890,000 units, compared to 260,000 a year earlier.
“There’s going to be a blood bath in the portable computer market, and AST has just made the first stab wound,” said JoeAnn Stahel, president of Storeboard/Computer Intelligence Inc., a market research firm in Dallas. “They are serious.”
AST’s less expensive model, the Premium Exec 286/12 with a 20-megabyte hard drive, is based on the Intel 80286 microprocessor and will sell for prices beginning at $2,495. The higher-end model, the Premium Exec 386SX/20 with a 20-megabyte hard drive, is based on the Intel 80386SX microprocessor with prices beginning at $2,995. Both models weigh about 6.5 pounds and are small enough to fit in a briefcase.
The 386SX model competes with the Compaq LTE 386 s/20, a 7.5-pound notebook computer introduced three weeks ago by Compaq Computer Corp. in Houston. The model has 30-megabyte hard drive and sells for prices starting at $6,500. Compaq officials said Friday their machine is more powerful than AST’s and appropriately priced, but Ashbrook disagreed.
The AST model also competes with a notebook computer introduced last week by Texas Instruments Inc. in Dallas. The 5.7-pound TravelMate 3000 computer is priced about $5,500.
“On the surface, it (the AST model) looks like a very aggressively priced notebook,” said Bruce Stephen, analyst at International Data Corp., a market research firm in Framingham, Mass. “AST is a known name and it has good distribution. It might do well.”
AST is aiming the product at business people on the run, such as traveling sales people, reporters, auditors, real estate and insurance field personnel.
The computers feature paper-white VGA graphics and can be expanded for facsimile or modem options. They can operate on battery power for three hours, and the batteries can be replaced in a “suspend mode” without disrupting work on the screen.
Unlike other laptops on the market, the Premium Exec 286/12 model can be upgraded to the more powerful 386SX microprocessor for $499. AST will introduce the two machines formally at the Comdex computer trade show in Las Vegas on Nov. 12 and begin shipping them in December.
