Lawsuit reveals Asus’ Transformer Prime pre-sales: 2,000 units

“A federal judge has ruled that Asus’ Transformer Prime tablet does not infringe on Hasbro’s Transformers trademark, in spite of the suit actually making sense,” Devin Coldewey reports for TechCrunch. “As a little kicker on the story, court filings have revealed that the device has produced pre-order numbers that are, shall we say, less than legendary. It’s not entirely fair, of course, to compare a fragmented and developing ecosystem like Android tablets to the world leader, the iPad.”

Coldewey reports, “At the same time, Asus is a big company with lots of ambition in the tablet and mobile computing space, so we can at least hold them to the standard of a large and established company. So when court filings reveal that pre-orders for this poster child for Android 4 tablets… total a whopping 2,000 units as of a month ago, it’s kind of a letdown.”

“As for the lawsuit: it’s not over, the judge has simply rejected Hasbro’s request to have sales of the Transformer Prime device halted,” Coldewey reports. “The case will continue to trial.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Sounds like lots of fun ahead.Steve Jobs, October 18, 2010

[Attribution: Daring Fireball. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]

Related articles:
Apple sells over 3 million new iPads in three days – March 19, 2012
Apple’s new iPad pre-sales sold out worldwide in two days – March 10, 2012

23 Comments

  1. If I was getting an Android Tab this was the first one I would consider because it seems to have decent specs and the superior keyboard dock. I haven’t heard many good things about it, but if that one isn’t good why bother with any others?

    0
    1
  2. “It’s not entirely fair, of course, to compare a fragmented and developing ecosystem like Android tablets to the world leader, the iPad.”

    It’s not?!? Why, because Asus is only one company, compared to Apple, which is just one company as well? What? You only want to compare all the Android companies combined against Apple? That’s what people think is fair?

  3. hahahahahhaha… hah… HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

    Well, I think this proves once and for all that the majority of consumers could not give any less of a damn about Android(“4.0!! 4.0!!! Oh wait, why am I supposed to care again?”) or it array of versions, and only use it because that’s what their cheap device is running. Which means that Android is dead the moment manufacturers start preloading some other OS on their hardware, since nobody but a tiny number of geeks have any actual allegiance to it.

    And, boy, people sure do care about OMG AWSUM specs like quad core processors. Right?

    Of course it goes without saying the idea of combing a tablet and a laptop is a real winner, too. Not at all a joke.

  4. Hasbro? A toy maker suing a computer maker? Wow, I remember when Apple computers were considered toys and serious work could not be done on a fruit? Was Hasbro worried about an Android tablet transforming money into junk? Heck, M$ could do that for ya….

  5. To my mind Android as a platform is not inferior per se to the iPad provided you’re reasonably tech savvy by which I mean reasonable exposure to tech on a daily basis. However, this does not represent the majority of people who in the main prefer to have their tech in easily digestible form. This is Android’s Archilles heel, a geek’s love affair with complex tech that only a geek can make sense of. The average man in the street prefers to consume his tech in a form that makes it easy to turn on the device and immerse himself in apps without bothering with on screen widgets. In fact the concept of widgets with the exception of specific tasks like changing settings is alien to the layman because in most respects widgets duplicate the function of an app but in doing so adds another layer of complexity.

    Apple addresses the average layman’s market by making complex things simple and in the process make using an iPad a joy rather than a chore. This to a large extent explains the popularity of the iPad. When you interface with something that’s easy to use it almost seems magical in the eyes of the user.

    1. Oh puhlease Android is crap. It is a hack in the plainest sense of the word (cobbled together from hacked up pieces of other products.
      Add to that the lack of quality apps (and severe fragmentation) and you have a disappointing experience for anyone (novice to expert)
      The only people that android tablets appeal to are the penny wise pound foolish penny pinchers and the chronic apple haters.

  6. Who wants to buy Junk? Anyone?

    I guess the 2000 sold were for Android Developers wanting to tinker cause that’s what they enjoy doing. I don’t think any real consumers are counted in the 2000

  7. going back to the original source article the number quoted, “2000” is taken out of context and is misleading. click on the in story hypertext to the og story and it cites 80,000 units sold globally with 2000 being sold before march within the specific district that the court action was initiated. so we have 82,000 sold worldwide as of three months ago not 2000. granted at that still not in the league as apple which i own products and stock in, but still considering it is a new product in a new sector of the tablet market, nothing to sneeze at for starters. i own one of those as well and though my ipad does somethings better the prime is as different a product just as an apple laptop and a ms laptop are intended for different end users with different needs and wants. analogy one is a cadillac with cruise control, automatic and onstar while the other is a rousch mustang, a six speed manual that the owner can get under the hood, customize, tinker and enjoy getting their hands dirty working on. similar yes but absolutely not the same things if you get my meaning. also of note people have notoriously short memories. ten years ago apple was the red headed step child in the marketplace struggling to find its way and to survive in a market owned by ms with stock selling at $15 per share, thankfully also when i snagged up my 300 shares. that said, different is good though and i think that asus for one will benefit by being different and will see its market share and technological advances continue to morph and change as the new kid on the block matures and finds its place and demographic. another aspect not mentioned, the exclusivity factor. rare or limited production numbers are a good thing. ie, some are happy being part of the toyota crowd with one at every stop light while others want to be seen in something that sets them apart and stands out. so many different angles and imho all of them valid, good reasons for less is more argument,…whatever suits your needs best is all that really matters in the end.

Reader Feedback

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.