Taiwan's Asustek Wins 500K iBook Laptop Order, Report Says

by , 1:00 AM EDT, June 20th, 2005

Asustek Computer Inc. has signed a contract with Apple Computer to make about 500,000 14-inch iBook laptops, the Chinese economic newspaper the Economic Daily News reported Monday, quoting unnamed market sources.

The government-owned newspaper report said Asustek Computer offered a major price discount to secure the contract against competitor Quanta Computer Inc., which made the laptops in the first quarter to March. Asustek is expected to start shipping the laptops in the calendar fourth quarter of this year.

Last year, Asustek shipped more than one million notebooks to Apple, the paper said. According to sources, the company produced Apple�s 12.1-inch iBook and 12.1-inch PowerBook. Asustek also secured orders for the 15.4-inch iBook, which will be launched in 2006, the sources added.

Quanta Computer is a leading designer and manufacturer of notebook computers for vendors such as Apple, Dell, Gateway, Sony and Hewlett-Packard.

Asustek declined to comment on the report.