Asus says it will sell 10 million tablets next year

PanARMENIAN.Net - Taiwanese hardware maker Asus projected it will sell 10 million tablets next year, its executives said in a conference call with investors, The Inquirer reports..

Asus CEO Jerry Shen reported during the call that Asus expects the Nexus 7 tablet to drive company sales in 2013. Shen said the Nexus 7 and the Asus line of new Windows 8 hybrid tablets will also help the company's fourth quarter sales.

"I think 10 million [tablet sales] is a conservative target," Shen said during his call with investors reviewing third quarter financial results.

Asus reported that it sold 2.3 million tablets in the third quarter of 2012. That represents a 300 per cent increase from the previous quarter.

Shen pointed to the Nexus 7 as a reason for the spike in tablet sales for the quarter. Asus built the Nexus 7 with Google for release earlier this year. The two companies have also recently teamed up to expand the Nexus 7 line. Asus and Google will be releasing a 3G Nexus 7 later this year.

Along with the Nexus 7, Asus has a number ofWindows 8 tablets in the pipeline. Asus expects to release the Taichi hybrid tablet and Transformer Book later this year.

Asus also projects that the fourth quarter of 2012 will see tablet sales improve over the previous quarter. The company said during its call with investors that it sees itself moving 2.6 million tablets in the fourth quarter.

If Asus performs to expectations it will increase tablet sales by 13 per cent on a quarterly basis.