Eee PC 'sold out'?

Don’t want to give the impression that I’m critical of the Eee PC per see -- since I work for a competitor any critique may sound a little hollow –- but some elements of the attention it has been getting recently perplex me.
First was the heated response of readers to this seemingly innocuous blog by Adam Turner for the Age recently (and on which I’ve posted earlier). There was also this earlier one from Stan Beer at ITWire -- seriously, who knew there were Asus fan-boys!
The second was this week’s relatively uncritical coverage of the product's first weekend of sales in Australia, where it was broadly reportedly ‘sold-out’. Neither Asus nor Myer (at the time the sole Australian distributor) was prepared to disclose how many the retailer had to start with, so I'm a little surprised at the number of people who were prepared run the line anyway -- I would have thought its news value hung on that fact.
According to analysts IDC, Australian consumers purchased almost 850,000 notebooks in the twelve months to September -- or something like an average of 16,000 a week. In that context, selling 240 Eee PCs, as it is rumoured to have been, doesn't seem to me to be sufficient basis for declaring a hit.

Asus' Eee PC - the disposable computer?

Adam Turner at The Age wrote an interesting blog today about the Asus Eee PC. Since I work for a competitor I'm not going to comment on the product itself but this point caught my attention.
"Of course at these prices you'd throw it away after 12 months and buy a new one."
If that's the case I hope that Asus will soon live up to its responsibilities and offer Australians a simple, easy to use free recycling service for of those soon to be unwanted Eee PCs.
According to industry analysts IDC, though the company's share of PC sales in Australia is less than two per cent, it still managed to sell 120,000 in the last 12 months and, as yet, does not offer a recycling service to its home PC customers.
At the very least the PC manufacturer should join other brands in the Victorian Government's Byteback program.
Whether the company recognises it or not, the times has passed when a responsible manufacturer can introduce an electronic product without giving thought to the disposal of the device at the end of its life.